Food cooking apparatus and heat storage member

ABSTRACT

A cooking apparatus includes a cooking chamber having one or more cooking zones. One or more of a heating element, an air mover, and a steam generator may be associated with one or more of the cooking zones.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims benefit of 35 U.S.C. 371 based on co-pendingInternational Patent Application No. PCT/CA2018/051252, filed Oct. 4,2018, which itself claims priority from U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 62/569,057, filed on Oct. 6, 2017, the entirety of whichis incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

This disclosure relates to the field of food cooking apparatus and heatstorage members.

INTRODUCTION

A food cooking apparatus is a device that has a compartment to receivefood for cooking, and that heats the food through one or more ofconduction, convection, and radiation.

SUMMARY

In accordance with one aspect of this disclosure, there is provided ahot air oven or fryer having multiple cooking zones. For example, thecooking apparatus may have 2, 3, 4 or more cooking zones. The cookingzones may be formed by first and second cooking containers that areremovably receivable in a cooking chamber, each of the cookingcontainers defining a cooking volume. Optionally, cooking conditions ineach cooking volume are individually controllable. For example, eachcooking volume may have its own heating (IR) heating element orelements, one or more air moving members (e.g., a fan) to provide adirected airflow in the cooking volume and/or one or more steamers.

In accordance with another aspect, a cooking apparatus comprises ductingproviding forced airflow into a cooking chamber. One or more IR heatingelements may be provided inside the ducting. Accordingly, there may beprovided a cooking chamber having an openable door provided on the frontof the cooking apparatus and a cooking volume. A heating duct, which hasa plurality of openings, is located above the cooking volume and an IRheating element is provided in the heating duct with the IR heatingelement overlying at least some of the openings. A fan assembly upstreamof the IR heating element. Alternately, or in addition, one or more IRheating elements may be provided between the ducting. Accordingly, theremay be provided a cooking chamber having an openable door provided onthe front of the cooking apparatus and a cooking volume. A plurality ofspaced apart heating ducts may be provided above the cooking volume, theheating ducts having a plurality of openings located above the cookingvolume with an IR heating element provided between adjacent heatingducts and a fan assembly upstream of the IR heating element.

In accordance with another aspect, the cooking apparatus may be operatedsuch that, during a cooking cycle, the cooking apparatus draws, e.g., atleast 75%, 80%, 90%, 100% of the rated power of the cooking apparatusfor at least 50%, 60%, 70%, 85%, 90%, 95% or 100% of the cooking time.This may be achieved by varying the power drawn by one or more of theenergy consuming elements (e.g., fan, IR heating element, steamer). Forexample, to reduce the amount of IR radiation emitted, the powerdelivered to the fan may be increased to increase the rate of airflow.An increased flow of air over an IR heating element may be used toreduce the amount of IR radiation emitted by the IR heating element (asthe temperature of the IR heating element is reduced) while stillproviding heat (e.g., in the form of forced convection). Alternately, orin addition, more energy may be provided to a steamer to increase theamount of moisture in a cooking volume. Accordingly different cookingregimes may be produced which draw the same or a similar amount ofpower. For example, at the start of a cooking cycle, more power may beprovided to the IR heating element to brown the outside of food in thecooking volume. Once the food is sufficiently browned (which may bepre-programmed based on the duration of this first stage in the cookingcycle), a reduced amount of energy may be provided to the IR heatingelement and some or more energy may be provided to one or more of asteamer (to provide moisture in the cooking volume) and a fan to produceforced convection or increased forced convection in a cooking volume.Alternately, once the food is sufficiently browned (which may bepre-programmed based on the duration of this first stage in the cookingcycle), the energy provided to the IR heating element may be maintainedat the same or a similar level and some or more energy may be providedto one or more of a steamer (to provide moisture in the cooking volume)and a fan to produce forced convection or increased forced convection ina cooking volume

In accordance with this aspect, there may be provided a cookingapparatus having a controller operable to adjust the energy provided toa fan assembly wherein the fan assembly is operable at a first powerlevel for a first portion of a cooking cycle and the fan assembly isoperable at a second power level for a second subsequent portion of thecooking cycle wherein the second power level is higher than the firstpower level, whereby operation of the fan assembly at the second powerlevel causes an increase in airflow over an IR heating element and areduction in IR radiation emitted by the IR heating element.

In accordance with this aspect, there may also be provided a cookingapparatus having a controller operably connected to an IR cookingelement and a steamer, wherein the controller has a pre-set cookingsetting that represents a cooking regime and, when the pre-set cookingsetting is in operation, the controller is operable adjust thedistribution of energy to the IR cooking element and the steamer whilethe cooking apparatus operates at 75% or more of a rated power draw ofthe cooking apparatus for 70% or more of the pre-set cooking setting.

In accordance with this aspect, there may also be provided a cookingapparatus having a controller operably connected to an IR cookingelement and a lower cooking element, wherein the controller has apre-set cooking setting that represents a cooking regime and, when thepre-set cooking setting is in operation, the controller is operableadjust the distribution of energy to the IR cooking element and thelower cooking element while the cooking apparatus operates at 75% ormore of a rated power draw of the cooking apparatus for 70% or more ofthe pre-set cooking setting.

In accordance with another aspect, a cooking apparatus has at least one,and preferably a plurality of cooking zones. The cooking zones aredefined by cooking containers that are removably receivable in acontinuous volume defining a cooking chamber. The cooking zones may havecooking conditions that are individually controllable. The cookingchamber has an openable door wherein the openable door has a transparentpanel (e.g., one or more layers of glass). The transparent panel of sucha multizone cooking apparatus may have a double glass wall with vacuuminsulation. Alternately, air may be blown between the layers of glass.Alternately, the transparent panel may comprise a single glass wall withair blown over the glass.

In accordance with another aspect, an energy storage member may beprovided. The energy storage member may store energy in the form of heatthat is stored for later use. For example, a standard electrical outletprovides a set amount of current. This limits the energy (heat) that maybe used to, e.g., cook food and therefore this limits the cooking time.Similarly, the amount of energy that may be provided to an electrickettle is limited and this limits the time required to bring water to aboil in an electric kettle. In accordance with this aspect, an energystorage member may draw electricity (e.g., by plugging the energystorage member into a household electrical outlet) and a heat sink(e.g., a block of metal such as aluminum) may be heated. The heat sinkis insulated so as to store the heat for an extended amount of time. Anappliance, such as a cooking apparatus (e.g., a cooking apparatus thatmay be plugged into a household electrical outlet and may be acountertop cooking apparatus as exemplified herein), an electric kettle,a pod coffee maker or a coffee maker may use the heat stored in the heatsink concurrently with heat produced using electricity drawn from ahousehold electrical outlet. Accordingly, the cooking time may bereduced. For example, a cooking apparatus may draw heat from an energystorage member by flowing air through the heat sink to thereby heat orfurther heat the air. A kettle of coffee maker may flow water throughthe heat sink to heat or further heat water. It will be appreciated thatthe energy storage member may be built into an appliance or may be astandalone appliance. In the latter case, the energy storage member maybe used with multiple different appliances.

In accordance with this aspect, there may be provided a cookingapparatus comprising a cooking chamber, a first heating member operableto provide heat to the cooking chamber and a heat storage member.

In accordance with this aspect, there may also be provided a portableheat storage member comprising a thermally insulated heat sink, aheating member in thermal communication with the heat sink, a fluid flowpath extending through the heat sink, the fluid flow path having aninlet end and an outlet end, the outlet end is connectable in flowcommunication with a domestic appliance and, an electrical cordconnectable with a domestic power outlet.

In accordance with another aspect, a cooking apparatus is provided witha double walled construction over part or all of the exterior shell ofthe cooking apparatus. Cooling airflows through a space between thedouble walls, e.g., when the cooking apparatus is in use or when thetemperature of, e.g., the outer surface exceeds a predetermined value.An advantage of this design is that it may maintain the exterior surfaceof part of all of the cooking apparatus at a lower temperature.Alternately, or in addition, insulation may be provided, e.g., adjacentthe outer shell of part or all of the cooking apparatus or, if a doublewall construction is used, in the space between the double walls. Theuse of insulation may limit heat loss. This enables more energy to beinput to cook the food. If heat is lost through the walls of the cookingapparatus, then the lost heat must be replaced to maintain thetemperature in the desired range. By using insulation, the energy thatwould have been used to replace the lost heat is used to provide moreIR, steam or forced convection.

In accordance with this aspect, there may be provided a cookingapparatus having an outer shell, an inner shell spaced from and facingat least a portion of the outer shell with an airflow passage providedbetween the inner shell and the outer shell, the airflow passage havinga cooling air inlet and an exhaust outlet. The cooking apparatus has acooking chamber having an openable door wherein the cooking chamber isisolated from airflow communication with the airflow passage. A coolingfan assembly is in airflow communication with the airflow passage.

In accordance with this aspect, there may also be provided a cookingapparatus having an air flow passage having a cooling air inlet and anexhaust outlet, a cooking chamber having an openable door, the coolingchamber being isolated from air flow communication with the air flowpassage and, a cooling fan assembly in air flow communication with theair flow passage, wherein the exhaust outlet directs cooling air at theopenable door.

It will be appreciated that one or more of these aspects may be used inany particular cooking apparatus.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cooking apparatus in accordance withan embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 1 with adoor in an open and extended position;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 1 with thedoor in an open and retracted position;

FIGS. 4-5 are cross-sectional views taken along line 4-4 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is the cross-sectional view of FIG. 4, with cooking vesselsremoved;

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 7-7 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a cooking vessel removed from a cookingreceptacle in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 9A is a top elevation view of an IR shield overlaying a heatingelement in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 9B is a cross-sectional view taken along line 9B-9B in FIG. 9A;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 1 with acooking vessel and cooking receptacle removed from one cooking zone;

FIGS. 11-12 are perspective views of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 1with both cooking vessels and cooking receptacles removed from bothcooking zones;

FIG. 13 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIG. 14A-D are schematic illustrations of heating elements associatedwith cooking zones in accordance with an embodiment;

FIGS. 14E-14J are schematic illustrations of heating elements inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIGS. 16-17 are schematic views of a cooking receptacle partiallyoverlaid by an IR shield in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus having an IRshield in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 19 is a top plan view of a IR shield panel in accordance with anembodiment;

FIGS. 20-21 are schematic illustrations of a cooking apparatus includingIR shields in accordance with various embodiments;

FIGS. 22-23 are schematic illustrations of a cooking apparatus includingair movers in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 24 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 24-24 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 25 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line 25-25 in FIG.24;

FIGS. 26-27 are schematic illustrations of steam generators inaccordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 28 is an enlargement of the steam generator of the apparatus ofFIG. 1,

FIG. 29 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 29-29 in FIG. 2 withboth cooking vessels positioned inside the cooking chamber;

FIG. 30 is a schematic illustration of an arrangement of heatingelements, air mover, and steam generator in accordance with anembodiments;

FIG. 31 is a perspective view of a steam generator in accordance withanother embodiment;

FIG. 32 is a perspective view of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 1 withthe door in an open and retracted position, and both cooking receptaclesand cooking vessels removed, and including the steam generator of FIG.31;

FIGS. 33-34 are schematic illustrations of a cooking apparatus includingsteam generators in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 35 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus including acontroller communicatively coupled to cooking devices associated withmultiple cooking zones, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 36 is a schematic illustration of a circuit including heatingelements configured in a low power mode;

FIG. 37 is a schematic illustration of the circuit of FIG. 37 with theheating elements configured in a high power mode;

FIG. 38 is a perspective view of a cooking vessel in a cookingreceptacle, in which a handle is not connected to the cooking vessel;

FIG. 39 is a perspective view of the cooking vessel and cookingreceptacle of FIG. 38, in which a handle is connected to the cookingvessel;

FIGS. 40-42 are schematic illustrations of a cooking apparatus includinglighting in accordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 43 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus including aself-cleaning function, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 44 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus including acooking additive distributor in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 45 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus including acooling fan in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 46 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus including acommon motor driving multiple motor-driven devices in accordance with anembodiment;

FIGS. 47A-47B are schematic illustrations of a cooking apparatusincluding a gas cleaner in accordance with various embodiments;

FIGS. 48-50 are schematic illustrations of gas cleaners in accordancewith various embodiments;

FIG. 51 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus in a tallorientation in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 52 is a schematic illustration of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 51in a wide orientation in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 53 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus in a compactconfiguration in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 54 is a schematic illustration of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 53in an expanded configuration in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 55 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus in a compactconfiguration in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 56 is a schematic illustration of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 55in an expanded configuration in accordance with an embodiment;

FIGS. 57-60 are schematic illustrations of a cooking apparatus havingone or more vertical heating elements in accordance with variousembodiments;

FIG. 61 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus having one ormore vertical heating elements, and that is rotatable from a tallorientation (left) to a wide orientation (right);

FIG. 62 is the schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus configuredas a top-loaded toaster in accordance with an embodiment;

FIGS. 63-65 are schematic illustrations of a hot water heater inaccordance with various embodiments;

FIG. 66 is a perspective view of a cooking apparatus in accordance withanother embodiment;

FIG. 67 is a perspective view of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 66 with acooking chamber door opened and wire rack removed;

FIG. 68 is another perspective view of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 66with the cooking chamber door and wire rack removed;

FIG. 69 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIG. 70 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 70-70 in FIG. 66 inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 71 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIG. 72 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 70-70 in FIG. 66 inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 73 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIG. 74 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 70-70 in FIG. 66 inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 75 is a perspective view of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 66 inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 76 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIG. 77 is a perspective view of a cooking apparatus in accordance withan embodiment;

FIG. 78 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 78-78 in FIG. 77;

FIG. 79 is a schematic illustration of a cooking apparatus in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIG. 80 is a perspective view of a cooking apparatus in accordance withan embodiment;

FIG. 81 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 81-81 in FIG. 66, inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 82 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 81-81 in FIG. 66, inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 83 is a perspective view of a cooking apparatus having a cookingchamber door shown partially cut away, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 84 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 81-81 in FIG. 66, inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 85 is a perspective view of a cooking apparatus in accordance withan embodiment;

FIG. 86 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 86-86 in FIG. 85, inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 87 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 87-87 in FIG. 85, inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 88 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 87-87 in FIG. 85, inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 89 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 87-87 in FIG. 85, inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 90 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 87-87 in FIG. 85, inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 91 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 87-87 in FIG. 85, inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 92 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 87-87 in FIG. 85, inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 93 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 87-87 in FIG. 85, inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 94 is a perspective view of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 93 withcooking chamber panels and a wire rack removed;

FIG. 95 is a perspective view of a cooking apparatus having a cookingchamber door open and a wire rack removed, in accordance with anotherembodiment;

FIG. 96 is a perspective view of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 95 havingthe cooking chamber door open, and the wire rack and two cooking chamberpanels removed;

FIG. 97 is a perspective view of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 95 havingthe cooking chamber door open, and the wire rack and five cookingchamber panels removed;

FIG. 98 is a perspective view of a cooking apparatus having a cookingchamber door open, and a wire rack and heating duct portion removed, inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 99 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 87-87 in FIG. 85, inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 100 is a perspective view of the cooking apparatus of FIG. 99having a cooking chamber door open, and a wire rack and two cookingchamber panels removed;

FIG. 101 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 87-87 in FIG. 85, inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 102 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 86-86 in FIG. 85, inaccordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 103 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 87-87 in FIG. 85, inaccordance with another embodiment;

FIG. 104 is a schematic illustration of a heat storage member connectedto a domestic appliance, in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 105 is a schematic illustration of a heat storage memberdisconnected from a domestic appliance, in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 106 is a perspective view of a heat storage member connected to acooking apparatus; and

FIG. 107 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 107-107 in FIG. 106.

DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

The terms “an embodiment,” “embodiment,” “embodiments,” “theembodiment,” “the embodiments,” “one or more embodiments,” “someembodiments,” and “one embodiment” mean “one or more (but not all)embodiments of the present invention(s),” unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The terms “including,” “comprising” and variations thereof mean“including but not limited to,” unless expressly specified otherwise. Alisting of items does not imply that any or all of the items aremutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise. The terms “a,”“an” and “the” mean “one or more,” unless expressly specified otherwise.

As used herein and in the claims, two or more parts are said to be“coupled”, “connected”, “attached”, “joined”, “affixed”, or “fastened”where the parts are joined or operate together either directly orindirectly (i.e., through one or more intermediate parts), so long as alink occurs. As used herein and in the claims, two or more parts aresaid to be “directly coupled”, “directly connected”, “directlyattached”, “directly joined”, “directly affixed”, or “directly fastened”where the parts are connected in physical contact with each other. Asused herein, two or more parts are said to be “rigidly coupled”,“rigidly connected”, “rigidly attached”, “rigidly joined”, “rigidlyaffixed”, or “rigidly fastened” where the parts are coupled so as tomove as one while maintaining a constant orientation relative to eachother. None of the terms “coupled”, “connected”, “attached”, “joined”,“affixed”, and “fastened” distinguish the manner in which two or moreparts are joined together.

Further, although method steps may be described (in the disclosureand/or in the claims) in a sequential order, such methods may beconfigured to work in alternate orders. In other words, any sequence ororder of steps that may be described does not necessarily indicate arequirement that the steps be performed in that order. The steps ofmethods described herein may be performed in any order that ispractical. Further, some steps may be performed simultaneously.

As used herein and in the claims, a first element is said to be‘communicatively coupled to’ or ‘communicatively connected to’ or‘connected in communication with’ a second element where the firstelement is configured to send or receive electronic signals (e.g. data)to or from the second element, and the second element is configured toreceive or send the electronic signals from or to the first element. Thecommunication may be wired (e.g. the first and second elements areconnected by one or more data cables), or wireless (e.g. at least one ofthe first and second elements has a wireless transmitter, and at leastthe other of the first and second elements has a wireless receiver). Theelectronic signals may be analog or digital. The communication may beone-way or two-way. In some cases, the communication may conform to oneor more standard protocols (e.g. SPI, I²C, Bluetooth™, or IEEE™ 802.11).

As used herein and in the claims, a group of elements are said to‘collectively’ perform an act where that act is performed by any one ofthe elements in the group, or performed cooperatively by two or more (orall) elements in the group.

Some elements herein may be identified by a part number, which iscomposed of a base number followed by an alphabetical orsubscript-numerical suffix (e.g. 112 a, or 112 ₁). Multiple elementsherein may be identified by part numbers that share a base number incommon and that differ by their suffixes (e.g. 112 ₁, 112 ₂, and 112 ₃).All elements with a common base number may be referred to collectivelyor generically using the base number without a suffix (e.g. 112).

General Description of a Cooking Apparatus

FIGS. 1-3 exemplify a cooking apparatus 100 in accordance with anembodiment. As shown, cooking apparatus 100 includes a chamber 104having sidewalls 108 that collectively define a contiguous interiorvolume 112. Chamber sidewalls 108 may include an openable wall 116 (alsoreferred to as a door 116). Chamber door 116 is openable to provide useraccess to insert food into cooking chamber 104 and to remove food fromcooking chamber 104. FIG. 1 shows chamber door 116 in a closed positionto retain heat within cooking chamber 104. FIGS. 2 and 3 show chamberdoor 116 in open positions.

Turning to FIGS. 4-5, chamber 104 can have any configuration suitablefor receiving and holding food for cooking. In some embodiments, chamber104 may be substantially parallelepiped. For example, chamber 104 may besubstantially cuboid. This may provide a compact configuration thatpromotes space efficiency when organized with other similarly shapedappliances, e.g. on a kitchen countertop. In the illustrated example,chamber sidewalls 108 include top and bottom walls 108 ₁ and 108 ₂, leftand right walls 108 ₃ and 108 ₄, and front and rear walls 108 ₅ and 108₆, which are collectively joined together. Front wall 108 ₅ is shownincluding cooking chamber door 116. In other embodiment, anothersidewall 108, such as left wall 108 ₃, right wall 108 ₄, or top wall 108₁ may include chamber door 116 or another chamber door to provide accessto insert and remove food from chamber interior volume 112 in otherdirections.

In other embodiments, cooking chamber 104 may have a differentconfiguration of chamber sidewalls 108. For example, cooking chamber 104may be cylindrical, domed (e.g. semi-spherical), or another regular orirregular shape.

Still referring to FIGS. 4-5, cooking chamber 104 may include any number(i.e. one or a plurality) of heating elements 120 to provide heat tofood contained within chamber interior volume 112. Heating elements 120may be of any type suitable for delivering heat to food. For example,heating elements 120 may include any one or more (or all) of resistiveheating elements (i.e. that produce heat through electrical resistance),flame heating elements (i.e. that produce heat by burning fuel, such asnatural gas, propane, or butane for example), and infrared heatingelements (e.g. including quartz, calrod, or nichrome wire). Heatingelements 120 may include a ceramic or mica board insulating support. Oneor more (or all) of heating elements 120 may extend within chamberinterior volume 112 as shown (i.e. may be positioned wholly or partiallywithin chamber interior volume 112), or may be positioned wholly outsideof chamber interior volume 112.

When activated (e.g. powered or fueled), heating element(s) 120 may becollectively capable of heating food and/or the air within cookingchamber 104 to at least common food cooking temperatures (e.g. to atleast 200° F., such as 200° F. to 800° F.). Temperatures at the lowerend of this range (e.g. 200° F.-350° F.) may be suitable for defrostingfrozen foods and for slow-cooking techniques that produce tender meatsand the like. Temperatures at the higher end of this range (e.g. 350°F.-800° F.) may be suitable for searing foods and fast-cookingtechniques that produce crispy pizza crusts and the like.

Cooking apparatus 100 may provide forced convection functionality. Whenenabled, forced convection employs an air mover to move the air withincooking chamber 104 to disrupt (e.g. displace) the layer of cool gasthat forms around exposed surfaces of food under natural convectionconditions. Consequently, forced convection may allow food to cookfaster and with greater energy efficiency (e.g. consume less electricityand/or fuel usage), all else being equal. Cooking apparatus 100 mayinclude any number (e.g. one or a plurality of) air movers 124. Cookingapparatus 100 may include any air movers 124 suitable for circulatingair within chamber interior volume 112 and promoting forced convectiveheat transfer. For example, air movers 124 may include a motor 128 thatdrives an air impeller 132 (e.g. a radial flow, mixed flow, or axialflow impeller). When rotated, the air impeller 132 accelerates airwithin or into chamber interior volume 112. Air impellers 132 may belocated within chamber interior volume 112 as shown (e.g. to circulateair within chamber interior volume 112), or may be located outside ofchamber interior volume 112 (e.g. within a conduit fluidly connected tochamber interior volume 112) to recirculate air that exits chamberinterior volume 112 back into chamber interior volume 112.

In some embodiments, cooking apparatus 100 may permit the forcedconvection function to be selectively user-activated anduser-deactivated. This can allow the user to activate forced convection(e.g. to cook food faster and more energy efficiently), and todeactivate forced convection (e.g. to follow the time and temperaturedirected by a recipe, which was not intended for forced convection).When forced convection is activated, air mover(s) 124 may be powered on,and when forced convection is deactivated, air mover(s) 124 may bepowered off.

In other embodiments, cooking apparatus 100 may not provide forcedconvection functionality. For example, cooking apparatus 100 may notinclude an air mover 124 associated with chamber interior volume 112.This may simplify the design of cooking apparatus 100, which may reducethe cost and complexity of manufacturing cooking apparatus 100.

Referring to FIG. 5, cooking apparatus 100 may provide steam generatingfunctionality. For example, cooking apparatus 100 may produce steamwithin cooking chamber 104 or deliver steam into cooking chamber 104.When air is heated, such as occurs in cooking chamber 104, the moisturecapacity of the air rises, which causes the relative humidity to fall.As the relative humidity falls, the rate at which moisture is removedfrom food into the surrounding air accelerates. Thus, higher airtemperatures can lead to food drying out more rapidly. For many foods,such as meats for example, drying is often an undesirable byproduct ofcooking that users wish to avoid. By providing steam to cooking chamber104, cooking apparatus 100 may raise the air humidity within cookingchamber 104 and thereby slow, stop, or reverse the dehumidification(i.e. drying out) of the food being cooked.

Cooking apparatus 100 may include any number (e.g. one or a pluralityof) steam generators 136. Cooking apparatus 100 may include any steamgenerator 136 suitable for producing high humidity air to interact withfood cooking within chamber interior volume 112. Steam generator 136 maygenerate steam within chamber interior volume 112 as shown.Alternatively, steam generator 136 may generate steam outside of chamberinterior volume 112, and the generated steam may be directed (e.g. bynatural or forced flow) into chamber interior volume 112.

In some embodiments, cooking apparatus 100 may permit the steamgeneration function (also referred to as the ‘humidification function’)to be selectively user-activated and user-deactivated. This can allowthe user to activate steam generation (e.g. to prevent foods from dryingduring cooking), and to deactivate steam generation (e.g. to allowfoods, such as French fries and chicken wings, to crisp).

In other embodiments, cooking apparatus 100 may not include a steamgenerator 136. This may simplify the design of cooking apparatus 100,which may reduce the cost and complexity of manufacturing cookingapparatus 100.

Cooking Containers

Turning to FIG. 6, cooking apparatus 100 may include any number (e.g.one or a plurality) of cooking receptacles 140 that may be removablyreceivable in a cooking apparatus, each of which may removably receive acooking vessel 160.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature of thecooking receptacle and the cooking vessel described herein may be usedwith any of the features of multiple cooking zones, subdividable cookingzones, forced convection, steam generation, dynamic energy utilization,heating element power modes, door transparency, removable handle,retractable door, removable handle, retractable door, lights,self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution, insulation and aircooling, heating ducts, common motor drive, smoke and/or odor control,reorientation and expansion, vertical cooking, toaster, heat storagemembers, and other features described herein.

Cooking apparatus 100 may include any cooking receptacle 140 sized fitin (e.g., be removably receivable in) chamber interior volume 112 andsuitable for holding food that is cooking within chamber interior volume112. As shown, cooking receptacles 140 may be cooking containers havingsidewalls 148 that define an interior volume 144 for holding food. Insome embodiments, a receptacle 140 may be substantially parallelepiped.For example, receptacle 140 may be substantially cuboid as shown. In theillustrated example, receptacle 140 includes bottom walls 148 ₁, leftand right walls 148 ₂ and 148 ₃, and front and rear walls 148 ₄ (FIG. 3)and 148 ₅ which are collectively joined together.

Referring to FIG. 3, one or more sides of receptacle 140 may bepartially or completely open to accommodate the insertion and removal offood, and/or the passage of heat to food contained in the receptacle140. In the illustrated embodiment, receptacle 140 includes an at leastpartially open side 152 that is aligned with openable chamber sidewall108 to accommodate the passage of food (i.e. insertion of food) intocooking receptacle interior volume 144. Referring to FIG. 6, food may beplaced directly into cooking receptacle 140. For example, food may reston, and in contact with cooking receptacle bottom wall 148 ₁.

Returning to FIG. 3, in some embodiments cooking receptacle may includea front wall 148 ₄ that may inhibit food, including liquids (e.g. oil,sauces, rendered fat, expelled liquid, or other drippings), fromspilling out of the open front end 152. As shown, front wall 148 ₄ maybe shorter than left and right walls 148 ₂ and 148 ₃ to allow food to beinserted into cooking receptacle interior volume 144 through thevertical space between front wall 148 ₄ and cooking receptacle upperside 156. As shown in FIG. 6, cooking receptacle 140 may have an openside 156 that is aligned with heating elements 120 and/or air mover 124so that heat and/or convective air can pass through the open side 156into contact with food contained within cooking receptacle 140. In theillustrated example, open side 156 is an upper side of receptacle 140and both heating elements 120 and air mover 124 are positioned abovecooking receptacle 140. In other embodiments, open side 156 may be adifferent side of cooking receptacle 140, such as for example, left,right, or rear side 148 ₂, 148 ₃, 148 ₄.

In other embodiments, cooking receptacle 140 does not include front wall148 ₄. This may enlarge the opening in front side 152, which may allowtaller food to be inserted into cooking receptacle 140 through frontside 152, all else being equal.

Turning to FIGS. 2 and 4, alternatively or in addition to supportingfood directly on surfaces of cooking receptacle 140, food may be heldwithin cooking receptacle 140 in or on a cooking vessel 160. Cookingvessel 160 may be any vessel sized to fit within cooking receptacleinterior volume 144, and suitable for carrying food during cooking. Forexample, cooking vessel 160 may be a cooking container such as a pan asshown, a pot, or a fryer basket, or a cooking sheet such as a bakingsheet or a wire rack.

It is desirable when cooking some foods (e.g. French fries and chickenwings) to obtain a crispy exterior when cooked. However, some such foodsexpel liquids as they cook, and if the liquid is allowed to pool incontact with the food, the liquid will inhibit a crispy crust (e.g. willmake the contacted food surfaces soggy). In some embodiments, cookingvessel 160 may be supported in cooking receptacle 140 with at least aportion (or all) of the cooking vessel bottom wall 164 spaced apart fromcooking receptacle bottom wall 148 ₁, and cooking vessel bottom wall 164may be liquid pervious. This can allow expelled liquids to pass throughbottom wall 164 and collect in cooking receptacle 140 out of contactwith the remainder of the food in cooking vessel 160. This can promotebetter and faster crisping of food exteriors that might have otherwisebeen softened by contact with the expelled liquids.

Cooking vessel bottom wall 164 may have any liquid pervious constructionsuitable to allow passage of liquids expelled from foods to exit cookingvessel 160. For example, cooking vessel bottom wall 164 may have aplurality of apertures (e.g. perforated apertures as in a pizza pan, orvoids between wires as in a cooling rack or fryer basket), or may bemade of liquid pervious material (e.g. liquid pervious paper, cloth,mesh, or other fabric).

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 8, cooking vessel 160 may be supported incooking receptacle 140 in any manner that spaces at least a portion (orall) of cooking vessel bottom wall 164 from cooking receptacle bottomwall 148 ₁. For example, cooking receptacle 140 may have one or moresupports 168 as shown, and/or cooking vessel 160 may have one or morelegs (not shown) that can hold cooking vessel bottom wall 164 spacedabove cooking receptacle bottom wall 148 ₁. In the illustrated example,cooking receptacle 140 includes a plurality of spaced apart supports 168upon which cooking vessel 160 is supported when received in cookingreceptacle 140. As shown, cooking receptacle 140 includes a frontsupport 168 ₁ connected to cooking receptacle front wall 148 ₄, and arear support 168 ₂ connected to cooking receptacle rear wall 148 ₅.Alternately, or in addition, some or all of the sidewalls of the cookingvessel may be spaced from the sidewalls of the cooking receptacle 140.For example, if the sidewalls of the cooking vessel 160 are pervious toairflow (e.g., they are made of a wire or mesh material), then spacingthe sidewalls of the cooking vessel 160 from the sidewalls of thecooking receptacle 140 may permit airflow through the sides of thecooking vessel. This may be desirable if cooking, e.g., French fries ofchick wings. Optionally, if the cooking vessel 160 is a basket, then thesides and the bottom may be spaced from cooking receptacle 140 whenplaced therein.

Turning to FIG. 7, cooking vessel bottom wall 164 may be supported atany height 172 above cooking receptacle bottom wall 148 ₁ suitable forproviding a collection space (i.e. a collection volume) for anaccumulation of liquids from the food as it cooks. Preferably, height172 is at least 5 mm, such as 5 mm to 30 mm, to provide adequate volumefor liquids to pool between bottom walls 148 ₁ and 164. A relativelysmall height 172 (e.g. 5 mm to 15 mm) may allow cooking receptacle 140to hold a relatively tall cooking vessel 160. A relatively tall height172 (e.g. 15 mm to 30 mm) may allow cooking receptacle 140 to collect arelatively large volume of liquids.

In some embodiments, cooking vessel 160 may be receivable in cookingreceptacle 140 with bottom walls 148 ₁ and 164 in flush contact. Thiscan allow for efficient conductive heat transfer from cooking receptaclebottom 148 ₁ to cooking vessel bottom wall 164. An advantage of thisdesign is that it can promote desirable browning of food surfaces incontact with cooking vessel bottom wall 164. In many foods, browningresults from a Maillard reaction, which also produces desirable flavorsand aromas.

In some embodiments, cooking vessel 160 may have a liquid imperviousbottom wall 164. This can allow the food to be partially submerged influid within cooking vessel 160 (e.g. for braising), or to be fullysubmerged in fluid (e.g. for stewing). A fluid impervious bottom wall164 may also allow for different food to be cooked in cooking receptacle140 between bottom walls 148 ₁ and 164 in isolation from the food incooking vessel 160. For example, meat may cook within cooking vessel 160while vegetables may cook within cooking receptacle 140 below cookingvessel 160.

Cooking apparatus 100 may include or be compatible with both cookingvessels 160 with liquid impervious and liquid pervious bottom walls 164.For example, cooking apparatus 100 may include, or there may beavailable as an accessory, a plurality of cooking vessels 160 ofdiffering configurations (e.g. shapes, sizes, and construction),including at least one cooking vessel 160 having a liquid imperviousbottom wall 164 and at least one cooking vessel 160 having a liquidpervious bottom wall 164. This can allow cooking apparatus 100 to cookfoods in very different ways according to the cooking vessel 160selected to carry the food being cooked.

Turning to FIG. 2, cooking vessel 160 may be removable from cookingreceptacle 140. For example, cooking vessel 160 may be convenientlyremoved prior to cooking to deposit food into cooking vessel 160 forcooking, may be replaced to cook the deposited food, and may be removedafter cooking to empty/serve the cooked food. Removing cooking vessel160 may also make cleaning cooking vessel 160 and cooking receptacle 140more convenient.

Cooking vessel 160 may be removable from cooking receptacle 140 in anymanner. In the illustrated embodiment, cooking vessel 160 is movable(e.g. slidable) relative to cooking receptacle 140 through cookingreceptacle open side 152 and cooking chamber door 116 for removal fromcooking chamber 104. As shown, cooking vessel 160 may include a handle176 that a user can grasp to safely handle cooking vessel 160 whenremoving and replacing cooking vessel 160.

Multiple Cooking Zones

Reference is now made to FIG. 4. In some embodiments, cooking chamber104 may include a plurality of cooking zones 180. As used herein, each“cooking zone” is a distinct volumetric region within cooking chamber104 that can be selectively subjected to different cooking conditionsfrom the other cooking zone(s), such as heating conditions (e.g. settemperature, heating rate, and/or heating direction), convectionconditions (e.g. air circulation speed, and/or air circulationdirection), and humidity conditions (e.g. set relative humidity, and/orhumidification rate) for example. An advantage of this design is that itcan allow food located in different cooking zones to be simultaneouslycooked in different cooking conditions.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature ofmultiple cooking zones described herein may be used with any of thefeatures of the cooking receptacle and the cooking vessel, subdividablecooking zones, forced convection, steam generation, dynamic energyutilization, heating element power modes, door transparency, removablehandle, retractable door, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution,insulation and air cooling, heating ducts, common motor drive, smokeand/or odor control, reorientation and expansion, vertical cooking,toaster, heat storage members, and other features described herein.

The cooking conditions of each cooking zone 180 may be varied (i.e.controlled) substantially independently of the other cooking zones 180in any manner, such as by operation of one or more electronic orelectromechanical cooking devices (e.g. heating elements 120, air movers124, and/or steam generators 136). As used herein, a cooking condition(e.g. temperature) of a first cooking zone 180 ₁ is said to be varied(i.e. controlled) “substantially independently” of the same cookingcondition (e.g. temperature) in a second cooking zone 180 ₂, where theaction taken to affect the change in cooking condition (e.g. powerheating element(s) 120) predominantly affects the cooking condition inthe first cooking zone 180 ₁ (e.g. most of the generated heat goes tofirst cooking zone 180 ₁), or where the action taken or other actionstaken (e.g. disabling heating element(s) associated with second cookingzone 180 ₂) lessen the change in cooking condition of the second cookingzone 180 ₂. In other words, cooking apparatus 100 has one or moreelectronic or electromechanical devices that can be coordinated toprovide individually controllable cooking conditions in two or morecooking zones 180.

Referring to FIGS. 4-5, each cooking zone 180 may be defined by acooking receptacle 140 or a cooking vessel 160. Cooking apparatus 100may include any number of cooking receptacles 140 and/or cooking vessels160 to provide any number of cooking zones 180. In the illustratedembodiment, cooking apparatus 100 includes two cooking receptacles 140simultaneously positioned within cooking chamber 104. As shown, cookingchamber 104 defines a single contiguous volume while cooking receptacle140 ₁ defines first cooking zone 180 ₁, and second cooking receptacle140 ₂ defines second cooking zone 180 ₂ within the cooking chamber 14.When a cooking vessel 160 is positioned in a cooking receptacle 140, thecooking vessel 160 may be located in the cooking zone 180 defined by thecooking receptacle 140, or the cooking vessel 160 may define the cookingzone 180.

Turning to FIG. 5, each cooking zone 180 may have associated with it oneor more distinct cooking devices (e.g. heating elements 120, air movers124, and/or steam generators 136). This allows the cooking conditions ineach zone to be substantially independently controlled. Each cookingzone 180 may have the same or different cooking devices. In theillustrated embodiment, each cooking zone 180 has above it a respectiveheating element 120, air mover 124, and steam generator 136. Within eachcooking zone 180, these cooking devices may be selectively activated anddeactivated according to a cooking program (e.g. set temperature,humidity, convection speed) independently of the cooking devices in theother cooking zone 180.

Still referring to FIG. 5, activating a cooking device (e.g. heatingelement 120) associated with one cooking zone 180 may impact cookingconditions (e.g. temperature) in another cooking zone 180. For example,imperfect thermal isolation may allow some heat from a heating element120 ₁ in first cooking zone 180 ₁ to transmit into second cooking zone180 ₂. Moreover, first cooking zone 180 ₁ may be in fluid communicationwith second cooking zone 180 ₂ (e.g., the sidewalls of the cookingreceptacles 140 may terminate before the top wall of the cooking volume104) such that there is some gas (e.g. air) exchange between the cookingzones 180 ₁, 180 ₂. However, cooking apparatus 100 may mitigate theimpact of such effects by operation of cooking devices associated withthe second cooking zone 180 ₂. For example, heating element 120 ₂ may beturned down or turned off to compensate for the heat entering cookingzone 180 ₂ from heating element 120 ₁. This can allow the cooking zones180 ₁ and 180 ₂ to maintain substantially independent cookingconditions.

The cooking device(s) associated with a cooking zone 180 may bepositioned anywhere within or outside of the cooking zone 180. In theillustrated embodiment, a heating element 120, an air mover 124, and asteam generator 136 are positioned above each cooking zone 180. In otherembodiments, one or more (or all) of the cooking devices may bepositioned below, to one side, or inside the cooking zone 180.

Each cooking zone 180 may have the same or different cooking device(s).This can allow each cooking zone 180 to be tailored to cooking the sameor different foods, in the same or different quantities, or to producingthe same or different cooking conditions. For example, each cooking zone180 may have associated with it the same or different types of cookingdevices (e.g. heating, air moving, or humidifying device), and/or mayhave associated with it the same type of cooking device as is associatedwith another zone but of a different configuration (e.g. size, power, orprinciple of operation). FIG. 5 depicts each cooking zone 180 havingassociated with it cooking devices of the same types—a heating element120, an air mover 124, and a steam generator 136. The heating elements120 ₁ and 120 ₂ of the first and second cooking zones 180 ₁ and 180 ₂may have the same or different configuration. For example, heatingelements 120 ₁ may have the same or different size, power, or principleof operation (e.g. resistive heater vs. infrared heater). Similarly, forthe air movers 124 and steam generators 136.

Referring to FIG. 4, cooking apparatus 100 may include one or morecooking devices that may be associated simultaneously with two or morecooking zones 180. In the illustrated example, a heating element 120 ₃is positioned beneath cooking zones 180 ₁ and 180 ₂ and provides heat toboth. Alternatively or in addition, cooking apparatus 100 may include anair mover 124 positioned to circulate air through a plurality of cookingzones 180, and/or a steam generator 136 positioned to humidify airwithin a plurality of cooking zones 180.

In some embodiments, a dividing wall 184 may be positioned betweencommon heating element 120 ₃, and cooking zones 180 ₁ and 180 ₂. Thedividing wall 184 may help prevent liquid and/or solid food from fallingdown from cooking zones 180 onto heating element 120 ₃ and rapidlyburning and/or smoking. Dividing wall 184 may underlie at least aportion of two or more cooking zones 180 above. In the illustratedembodiment, dividing wall 184 extends over the entire area beneathcooking zones 180. Dividing wall 184 may have any structure suitable forpreventing liquid and/or solid food from falling down from cooking zones180 onto heating element 120 ₃. For example, dividing wall 184 may be acontinuous sheet of material (e.g. metal), a perforated sheet ofmaterial, or a wire/mesh rack.

Some heating elements 120, such as infrared and fire based heatingelements 120 ₃ may generate heat unevenly over the area below cookingzones 180 ₁ and 180 ₂, with the heat being concentrated in regionsnearest the heat source. Alternatively or in addition to helping toprevent food from falling onto heating element 120 ₃, dividing wall 184may help to more evenly distribute heat emitted by common heatingelement 120 ₃ over the area of dividing wall 184. For example, dividingwall 184 may include high conductivity material (e.g. metal, such asaluminum or copper) to distribute heat laterally across the area ofdividing wall 184. Where heating element 120 ₃ is an infrared heater, orgenerates infrared heat, dividing wall 184 may include infraredabsorbent material. In this case, dividing wall 184 may be referred toas an ‘IR absorber’. This can allow dividing wall 184 to absorb theinfrared energy emitted by heating element 120 ₃ that strikes dividingwall lower surface 188, and re-emit the energy (as infrared or otherform of heat radiation) from a majority of (e.g. at least 50%) orsubstantially the entire (e.g. at least 85% of) dividing wall uppersurface 192.

Optionally, the portions of dividing wall 184 that are immediately above(overlie) the heating element may be made of a less conductive materialso as to produce a dividing wall having a more uniform temperatureduring operation of the cooking apparatus. Such a design is exemplifiedin FIGS. 9A-9B, which show an infrared absorber 184 overlaying aninfrared heating element 120. Dimensions in these figures areexaggerated for illustration purposes. In this example, dividing wall184 includes infrared absorbing material that absorbs infrared radiationfrom heating element 120 and re-radiates heat (infrared or otherwise)from dividing wall upper surface 192. In some embodiments, dividing wall184 may have less infrared absorptive capacity per unit area inregion(s) 196 closer to (e.g. directly overlying) heating element 120than in region(s) 204 farther from heating element 120 (e.g. laterallyspaced from heating element 120). Because the heating from infraredradiation is a function of distance (indeed, distance cubed), region 196closest to heating element 120 may receive more radiation than a region204 located farther from heating element 120. By providing the fartherregion 204 with greater infrared absorptive capacity, the infraredabsorber 184 may be able to more evenly re-radiate heat across thecloser and farther regions 196 and 204 of dividing wall upper surface192.

Infrared absorber 184 may be configured to provide regions 196 and 204with different infrared absorptive capacity per unit area in any mannersuitable for providing more even heat radiation across dividing wallupper surface 192. In some embodiments, the infrared absorptive capacityper unit area may be varied by varying a thickness 208 of infraredabsorber 184. The illustrated example shows infrared absorber 184 havinga thickness 208 of infrared absorbent material that is greater infarther regions 204 than in closer region 196. The change in thickness208 may be gradual as shown, or may change in step-wise fashion forexample. Alternatively or in addition to varying thickness 208, infraredabsorber 184 may have intermittent strips of infrared absorbent materialthat are more densely arranged in farther regions 204 than in closerregion 196. Alternatively or in addition to varying thickness 208 andusing intermittent strips of infrared absorbent material, infraredabsorber 184 may include a first infrared absorbent material with lowerinfrared absorptivity in closer region 196, and include a secondinfrared absorbent material with higher infrared absorptivity in fartherregions 204.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 3 and 10. Cooking apparatus 100 may bereconfigurable to resize cooking zones 180, to divide a cooking zone 180into two or more cooking zones 180, and/or to merge two or more cookingzones 180 into a single larger cooking zone 180. Cooking apparatus 100may include any number of (e.g. one or multiple) cooking receptacles 140and cooking vessels 160 (FIG. 5) simultaneously housed within cookingchamber 104. As discussed above, cooking receptacles 140 and/or cookingvessels 160 (FIG. 5) may define a cooking zone 180 when positioned incooking chamber 104. One or more (or all) of cooking receptacles 140 andcooking vessels 160 (FIG. 5) may be removable from cooking chamber 104to reconfigure the cooking zones 180 of cooking apparatus 100. Forexample, FIG. 10 illustrates a cooking apparatus 100 having one of twocooking receptacles 140 removed from cooking chamber 104. In one aspect,the cooking receptacle 140 when removed from cooking chamber 104 may bemore easily cleaned (e.g. in the sink). Moreover, the removal of thecooking receptacle 140 has enlarged cooking zone 180 ₂, which nowextends downward to dividing wall 184. Food may be placed on dividingwall 184 (e.g. directly, or within a cooking vessel supported ondividing wall 184) to cook by itself, or alongside other food inside theremaining cooking receptacle 140 ₁.

FIGS. 11-12 illustrate cooking apparatus 100 having no remaining cookingreceptacles positioned in cooking chamber 104, which results in thefirst and second cooking zones 180 ₁ and 180 ₂ combining to form aunitary or contiguous cooking zone 180. The unitary cooking zone 180 maybe re-divided by reinserting one or more cooking receptacles or cookingvessels. The enlarged cooking zone 180 may provide greater surface area(e.g. horizontal surface area) to cook larger items, such as a pizza,pie, or cake, which may be supported directly in contact with dividingwall 184, or within a cooking vessel (e.g. pizza pan, pie dish, or cakepan) supported on dividing wall 184.

Referring to FIGS. 10-11, cooking receptacles 140 may be removablyreceivable in cooking chamber 104 in any manner. For example, cookingreceptacles 140 may be sat directly on (i.e. in contact with) dividingwall 184 (i.e. dividing wall 184 may function as a shelf). In theillustrated example, cooking receptacles 140 are suspended above, inspaced apart relation to, dividing wall 184 when positioned in cookingchamber 104. As shown, cooking chamber 104 may include one or moremounts 208 (e.g. rails as shown, or brackets) that support cookingreceptacles 140 above dividing wall 184. Mounts 208 may extend from anycooking chamber sidewall 108, such as left and right walls 108 ₃ and 108₄ as shown.

Turning to FIG. 7, cooking receptacle bottom wall 148 ₁ may be spacedany distance 212 from dividing wall 184 suitable to provide an air-gapbetween cooking receptacle and dividing wall 184. The air-gap maysubstantially eliminate heat conduction between cooking receptacle 140and dividing wall 184, so that heat is predominantly transferred byradiation and convection. This may allow dividing wall 184 to moreefficiently absorb and distribute heat from heating element 120 ₃ acrossdividing wall 184, and more evenly transmit heat from dividing wall 184to cooking receptacle bottom wall 148 ₁. Distance 212 is preferablygreater than 3 mm (e.g. 3 mm to 50 mm). In some embodiments, distance212 is greater than 20 mm (e.g. 20 mm to 50 mm), which may permit foodto be cooked in direct contact with dividing wall 184 simultaneously asfood is cooked within cooking receptacle(s) 140 above. In this case, athird cooking zone may be defined in the space between cookingreceptacles 140 and dividing wall 184.

FIG. 13 shows a schematic illustration of cooking apparatus 100 inaccordance with an embodiment. As shown, cooking apparatus 100 mayinclude a controller 216 which is communicatively coupled to the cookingdevices (e.g. heating elements 120, air movers, 124, and steamgenerators 136) associated with the plurality of cooking zones (e.g.first and second zones 180 ₁ and 180 ₂) defined within cooking chamber104. Controller 216 may include one or more electrical orelectro-mechanical devices (e.g. processor(s), memory, relay(s),switch(es), etc.) that are configured (e.g. wired and programmed) toregulate the operation of the cooking devices of cooking apparatus 100to execute a cooking program (e.g. selected by the user).

As shown, cooking apparatus 100 may include food 220 ₁ within firstcooking zone 180 ₁, and food 220 ₂ within second cooking zone 180 ₂.Controller 216 may direct the operation of the cooking devices withincooking apparatus 100 according to a cooking program in order to cookfoods 220 ₁ and 220 ₂. In one embodiment, foods 220 ₁ and 220 ₂ aredifferent foods that if cooked under identical conditions would requiresubstantially different cooking times to complete their cooking to adesired doneness (e.g. browned and not burnt). For example, food 220 ₁in first cooking zone 180 ₁ may be raw French fries, and food 220 ₂ incooking zone 180 ₂ may be raw chicken wings.

In some embodiments, controller 216 may direct the operation of thecooking devices according to a cooking program, which aims to cook foods220 ₁ and 220 ₂ so that they finish cooking at approximately the sametime. This may involve producing different cooking conditions(temperature, convective air speed, and/or humidity) in the two cookingzones 180. For example, controller 216 may direct heating element 120 ₁to produce relatively less heat than heating element 120 ₂ to slow thecooking of French fries 220 ₁ in first cooking zone 180 ₁ and to allowchicken wings 220 ₂ in second cooking zone 180 ₂ more time to finishcooking, and in the result allow both foods 220 ₁ and 220 ₂ to finishcooking at the same time. In another example, controller 216 may delaythe activation of heating element 120 ₁ as compared to heating element120 ₂ to start the cooking of French fries 220 ₁ in first cooking zone180 ₁ so that chicken wings 220 ₂ in second cooking zone 180 ₂ arecooked for a long period of time, whereby both foods 220 ₁ and 220 ₂finish cooking at the same time.

In some embodiments, controller 216 may execute a cooking programintended to complete the cooking of foods 220 ₁ and 220 ₂ in sequence(e.g. spaced apart in time sufficiently to allow one food 220 to beplated and served before the second food 220 finishes cooking, or spacedapart in time sufficiently to allow one food 220 to finish restingcontemporaneously as the second food 220 finishes cooking). For example,controller 216 may direct the operation of the cooking devices so thattwo identical batches of chicken wings 220 ₁ and 220 ₂, which startedcooking at the same time, finish several minutes apart (e.g. bymodulating the heat of heating elements 120, the air speed of air movers124, and/or the humidity generated by steam generators 136).

Each heating element 120 can include a single heating device or aplurality of heating devices having any shape and arranged in anypattern. FIGS. 14A-14D illustrate some exemplary heating elements 120that are associated with discrete cooking zones 180. FIG. 14A shows anexample of heating elements 120 ₁ and 120 ₂ each having two linearheating devices arranged in parallel. FIG. 14B shows an example ofheating elements 120 ₁ and 120 ₂ each having a round (e.g. circular)heating device. FIG. 14C shows an example of heating elements 120 ₁ and120 ₂, each including a plurality of round (e.g. circular) heatingdevices. FIG. 14D illustrates another example of heating elements 120 ₁and 120 ₂, each having a plurality of linear heating devices in adifferent orientation than shown in FIG. 14A.

FIGS. 14E-14J illustrate some exemplary heating elements 120 ₃ that maybe common to a plurality of cooking zones. FIG. 14E shows an example ofa heating element 120 ₃ including a single linear heating element 120 ₃.FIG. 14F shows an example of a heating element 120 ₃ including aplurality of linear heating elements 120 ₃ in parallel. FIG. 14G showsan example of a heating element 120 ₃ including a plurality of round(e.g. circular) heating devices side by side. FIG. 14H shows an exampleof a heating element 120 ₃ including a plurality of nested heatingdevices. FIG. 14I shows an example of a heating element 120 ₃ includinga plurality of linear heating devices arranged in a differentorientation than in FIG. 14F. FIG. 14J shows an example of a heatingelement 120 ₃ including a heating element having an irregular shape.

Subdividable Cooking Zones

Reference is now made to FIGS. 15-16. In some embodiments, a cookingzone 180 (e.g. defined by a cooking receptacle 140, or a cooking vessel)may be subdivided into addition cooking zones 180. This can allow thenumber of cooking zones within cooking chamber 104 to be increased. Eachcooking zone 180 can have different cooking conditions for cookingdifferent foods 220.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature ofsubdividable cooking zones described herein may be used with any of thefeatures of the cooking receptacle and the cooking vessel, multiplecooking zones, forced convection, steam generation, dynamic energyutilization, heating element power modes, door transparency, removablehandle, retractable door, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution,insulation and air cooling, heating ducts, common motor drive, smokeand/or odor control, reorientation and expansion, vertical cooking,toaster, heat storage members, and other features described herein.

In some embodiments, a cooking zone 180 heated by an infrared heatingelement 120 may be subdivided by positioning an infrared-opaque barrier224 (also referred to as an IR shield 224) between the heating element120 and the cooking zone 180. FIGS. 15-16 illustrate an example in whichsecond cooking zone 180 ₂ is subdivided into sub-zones 180 _(2A) and 180_(2B) by overlaying an IR shield 224 over a portion (e.g. one-half) ofcooking receptacle 140 ₂. This can reduce the IR radiation that strikesfood 220 _(2B) in sub-zone 180 _(2B) as compared with food 220 _(2A) insub-zone 180 _(2A). As a result, two different foods 220 _(2A) and 220_(2B) can be cooked under different cooking conditions within the samecooking receptacle 140 ₂ under the same heating element 120 ₂ or inseparate receptacles 140 placed in one cooking vessel 160. IR shield 224may be permanently or removably connected to cooking receptacle 140. Aremovable IR shield 224 may permit cooking receptacle 140 to beselectively divided or undivided into sub-zones 180 as desired. IRshield may be moveable mounted from a retracted position (e.g., in whichit is moved to about a sidewall of chamber 140) to a deployed positionas exemplified in FIG. 17.

IR shield 224 may be made of any material effective to block orresist/reduce the transmission of infrared radiation. For example, IRshield 224 may be made of aluminum, aluminized steel, or low iron glass.IR shield 224 may cover an entirety of a sub-zone 180 below, or may bedeployed to cover only part of the sub-zone 180 or may include openarea(s) (e.g. formed by slots or perforations 228 as shown). Openarea(s) 228 may allow IR shield 224 to reduce but not completely blockIR radiation from heating elements 120 to the sub-zone 180 below.

Referring to FIG. 17, in some embodiments a zone subdividing wall 232may be provided to create greater isolation between the sub-zones 180_(2A) and 180 _(2B). In some embodiments, subdividing wall 232 may beair impervious or air flow resistant to reduce air exchange betweensub-zones 180 _(2A) and 180 _(2B), so that sub-zones 180 _(2A) and 180_(2B) can maintain distinct air temperatures. Alternatively or inaddition, subdividing wall 232 may be liquid impervious to reduce liquidexchange, so that the flavors of foods 220 _(2A) and 220 _(2B) do notmix. Moreover, subdividing wall 232 may be permanently or removablyconnected to cooking receptacle 140 ₂. A permanently connectedsubdividing wall 232 may allow subdividing wall 232 to more reliablyresist liquid and air exchange between sub-zones 180 _(2A) and 180_(2B). A removably connected subdividing wall 232 may be selectivelyinserted or removed, and may be sized to fit into a cooking vessel.

Reference is now made to FIG. 18. In some embodiments, IR shield 224 maybe formed as a shutter that is movable between an open position, inwhich IR radiation from heating element 120 is unobstructed or lessobstructed by IR shield 224, and a closed position (shown) in which IRradiation from heating element 120 is completely or more obstructed byIR shield 224. As shown, IR shield 224 may include an upper shield panel236 ₁ and a lower shield panel 236 ₂. As shown in FIG. 19, upper andlower shield panels 236 ₁ and 236 ₂ may include open area(s) 228 (e.g.formed by perforations, slots, or spaces between wires) positionedbetween closed areas 240. Returning to FIG. 18, in the closed positionshown, the closed areas 240 of each shield panel 236 at least partiallyoverlie (i.e. overlap) and align with the open areas 228 of the othershield panel 236 to provide complete (or greater) obstruction to IRradiation into the sub-zone 180 _(B) below. In the open position, theopen areas 228 of each shield panel 236 at least partially overlie (i.e.overlap) and align with the open areas 228 of the other shield panel 236to provide less obstruction to IR radiation into the subarea 180 _(B)below.

At least one of (i.e. one or both of) IR shield panels 236 is movablerelative to the other IR shield panel 236 to transition the IR shield224 between the open and closed positions. In the illustrated example,lower IR shield panel 236 ₁ is horizontally movable relative to upper IRshield panel 236 ₂ between the open and closed positions. An IR shieldpanel 236 may be movable by manual (i.e. by hand) or automatic means.For example, IR shield panel 236 may be drivingly connected to anactuator 242, which may be an electromechanical actuator (e.g. solenoid)or a manual actuator (e.g. shaft connected to a handle or button). Thismay permit controller 216 (FIG. 13) to activate actuator 242 inaccordance with a cooking program.

Turning to FIG. 20, IR shield 224 may include a single panel 236 movablebetween a closed position (shown) and an open position. As illustrated,IR shield 224 provides greater obstruction to IR radiation in the closedposition than in the open position.

Referring to FIG. 21, IR shield 224 may include a panel 236 that isrotatable between a closed position and an open position, as in alouvre. Also, a plurality of IR shields 224 may be associated with asingle cooking zone 180. In the illustrated example, a first IR shield224 _(A) overlies sub-zone 180 _(A), and a second IR shield 224 _(B)overlies sub-zone 180 _(B). Each IR shield 224 may be independentlyactuated to move between an open position and a closed position. In theillustrated example, IR shield 224 _(B) is shown in an open position,and IR shield 224 _(B) is shown in a closed position.

It will be appreciated that in each example including an IR shield panel236 movable between an open position and a closed position, the IRshield panel 236 may also be movable to intermediate positions betweenthe open and closed positions that may provide a degree of IR radiationobstruction in between that provided by the open and closed positions.

Forced Convection

Referring to FIG. 5, cooking apparatus 100 may include one or more airmovers 124 that act to circulate air within cooking chamber 104. Eachair mover 124 may include an impeller 132 driven by a motor 128. Themotor 128 rotates the impeller 132 about an axis 244 of rotation, andthe rotating impeller 132 accelerates air to circulate within thecooking chamber 104. In the illustrated example, a different air mover124 is associated with each cooking zone 180. This allows differentcooking zones 180 to experience different forced convection (includingno forced convection when an air mover 124 for a zone is disabled).

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature of forcedconvection described herein may be used with any of the features ofmultiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and the cooking vessel,subdividable cooking zones, steam generation, dynamic energyutilization, heating element power modes, door transparency, removablehandle, retractable door, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution,insulation and air cooling, heating ducts, common motor drive, smokeand/or odor control, reorientation and expansion, vertical cooking,toaster, heat storage members, and other features described herein.

In other embodiments, one or more cooking zones 180 may not have anassociated air mover 124 (e.g., the cooking zone 180 may not featureforced convection). This may simplify the design of cooking apparatus100, which may reduce the cost and complexity of manufacturing cookingapparatus 100.

In some embodiments, an air mover 124 may be associated with two or more(or all) zones 180. This allows more cooking zones 180 to have forcedconvection functionality than the number of air movers 124, even if thedegree of forced convection is not individually selectable as betweensome of those cooking zones 180.

In other embodiments, a plurality of air movers 124 may be associatedwith one cooking zone 180. This allows for greater precision in thedelivery of forced convection to a cooking zone 180. For example, thismay allow the air flow direction to be selected based upon which of theair movers 124 are activated. In another example, this may allow asub-zone to be exposed to greater air flow velocity/turbulence thananother sub-zone within the cooking zone 180.

Air mover 124 may be positioned anywhere relative to cooking chamber104. As exemplified in FIG. 5, each air mover 124 includes a motor 128positioned above cooking chamber upper wall 108 ₁, and an impellerpositioned 132 just below cooking chamber upper wall 108 ₁ above acooking zone 180. In other embodiments, an air mover 124 may bepositioned at any of the other cooking chamber sidewalls 108. In someembodiments, impeller 132 may be located outside of cooking chamber 104and oriented to force air into cooking chamber 104 through an opening inone of cooking chamber sidewalls 108.

Still referring to FIG. 5, air movers 124 may have impellers 132configured to accelerate air in any direction suitable for circulatingair within cooking chamber 104. In the illustrated embodiment, impeller132 is configured to accelerate air laterally (e.g. horizontally normalto axis 244) towards left, right, front and rear sidewalls 108 ₃-108 ₆.This may create an airflow path that runs along the inside of cookingreceptacle sidewalls 148 below. As illustrated in FIG. 22, when acooking vessel 160 is positioned in the cooking receptacle 140 thelateral airflow path 248 may run between the cooking vessel 160 and thecooking receptacle 140. This may allow for convective heat transfer intothe cooking vessel 160 through many or all sidewalls 166 of cookingvessel 160 (e.g., if the cooking vessel is a basket). As a result, thismay accelerate the cooking of food 220.

Still referring to FIG. 22, air mover 124 may be positioned and orientedto blow air across heating elements 120, which may be infrared heatingelements as discussed above. For example, air mover 124 may bepositioned and oriented to blow air laterally across heating elements120. The heating elements 120 may lose heat to the air flow 248.Accordingly, the air flow 248 is heated by interaction with the heatingelements 120. This allows heating elements 120 to simultaneously provideradiative heat to the food 220 below, and to supply the heating forconvective heating to the food 220. By reducing the temperate of theheating element, the amount of radiant heating that is provided may bereduced. As shown, air mover impeller 132 may be positioned at the sameor higher elevation as an associated heating element 120.

In operation, the speed of air mover motor 128 may be varied to adjustthe ratio of radiative heating to convective heating of food 220 incooking zone 180. For example, the speed of air mover 124 may beincreased to allow the air flow to capture additional heat from heatingelement 120, whereby the ratio of radiative heating to forced convectiveheating decreases, and vice versa. In some embodiments, the speed of airmover 124 may be varied from ‘off’ at which the ratio of radiativeheating to forced convective heating is 100:0, to maximum speed (e.g.greater than 4,000 RPM) at which the ratio may be 50:50 or less. Thetotal heat input into food 220 may be generally governed by the heatgeneration of heating element 120.

In alternative embodiments, heating elements 120 may not be located inthe air flow path of an adjacent air mover 124. This can avoid coolingheating elements 120, which may reduce the radiative heating thatheating elements 120 can provide to the food 220 in the associatedcooking zone 180.

Turning to FIG. 11, it will be appreciated that when the cookingreceptacles have been removed to provide a combined cooking zone 180,the plurality of air movers 124 associated with the removed cookingreceptacles may be operated concurrently to generate an airflowcommensurate with the large volume of the combined cooking zone 180.

Referring to FIG. 4, cooking chamber 104 may include one or more (i.e.one or multiple) angular walls 252 which interact with the airflow 248(FIG. 22) from air mover(s) 124 to efficiently redirect the airflow 248(FIG. 22) downwards into the cooking zone 180 below. This may help tobetter isolate forced convection generated by an air mover 124associated with one cooking zone 180 ₁ from impacting the forcedconvection experienced in another cooking zone 180 ₂. As exemplified,the angular walls 252 are provided adjacent a location at which twocooking zones 180 abut so as to direct air to flow generally downwardlyinto a respective cooking zone 180 and not laterally into an adjacentcooking zone. In the illustrated embodiment, cooking chamber 104includes an angular wall 252 (also referred to as an air flow deflector252) associated with each cooking zone 180, each angular wall 252extending from cooking chamber upper wall 108 ₁ downwardly at a(non-zero) angle to vertical and horizontal (e.g. 20-70 degrees tohorizontal). As shown, angular walls 252 may be formed by a header 254positioned at the interface between adjacent cooking zones 180.

FIG. 22 shows another embodiment including two angular walls 252associated with the same cooking zone 180. This design may help improveforced convective air flow efficiency, which ultimately may allowcooking apparatus 100 to use a smaller, lighter, less powerful, and lessexpensive air mover 124 without sacrificing performance, all else beingequal. As shown, the angular walls 252 may be positioned at laterallyopposed ends of the cooking zone 180. Angular walls 252 may be planar asshown in FIG. 4 or curved as shown in FIG. 22.

Reference is now made to FIG. 23. In some embodiments, cooking apparatus100 may include one or more IR shields 224 (as described above) as wellas one or more air movers 124. The IR shields 224 may be selectivelypositionable to reduce the IR radiation that passes from heatingelements 120 into cooking zone 180. Consequently, IR shields 224 may beclosed to further decrease the ratio of radiative heating to convectiveheating within cooking zone 180. When IR shields 224 are open and airmover 124 is turned off, the ratio of radiative to convective heatingmay be 100:0, and when IR shields 224 are closed and air mover is atmaximum speed, the ratio may be for example 20:80 or less (e.g. 20:80 to2:98).

Steam Generator

Reference is now made to FIG. 24. In some embodiments, cooking apparatus100 may include one or more steam generators 136. As used herein, a“steam generator” can be any device that can convert liquid water intogas, vapor, or tiny airborne droplets, whether that conversion isachieved by heating, evaporating, or nebulizing water, or by anothermeans. Steam generator 136 can be any device that can humidify one ormore cooking zones 180. In the illustrated embodiment, each cooking zone180 has an associated steam generator 136. This allows the humiditywithin each cooking zone 180 to be individually controlled. In otherembodiment, one or more (or all) cooking zones 180 may not have anassociated steam generator 136. This may simplify the design of cookingapparatus 100, which may reduce the cost and complexity of manufacturingcooking apparatus 100. In some embodiments, a steam generator 136 may beassociated with two or more cooking zones 180. This allows more cookingzones 180 to have humidification functionality than the number of steamgenerators 136, even if the humidity in some of those cooking zones 180is not separately controllable.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature of steamgeneration described herein may be used with any of the features ofmultiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and the cooking vessel,subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, dynamic energyutilization, heating element power modes, door transparency, removablehandle, retractable door, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution,insulation and air cooling, heating ducts, common motor drive, smokeand/or odor control, reorientation and expansion, vertical cooking,toaster, heat storage members, and other features described herein.

Turning to FIG. 25, steam generator 136 may include a water reservoir256, a steaming plate 260, and a water flow path 264 from the waterreservoir 256 to the steaming plate 260. Water is delivered from thewater reservoir 256 to the steaming plate 260, where it is vaporized,such as by boiling or evaporation, to produce water vapor thathumidifies the air within cooking zone 180. Humidifying the air within acooking zone 180 may help to prevent the food being cooked from dryingout or burning from heat radiation generated by the heating elements120. It will be appreciated that instead of a reservoir, and/or inaddition thereto, steam generator 136 may be connectable in fluid flowcommunication with a source of water (e.g., it may be permanently orremovably connected to a household water supply)

Water may be directed from water reservoir 256 along water flow path 264to steaming plate 260 in any manner. In the illustrated example, a pump268 is positioned in the flow path 264, and selectively operable tocontrol a flow rate of water to the steaming plate 260. For example, asshown in FIG. 13, controller 216 may be communicatively coupled to steamgenerator 136. This can allow controller 216 to direct the flow rate ofwater pumped onto the steaming plate, according to a cooking program.

In another embodiment, FIGS. 26-27 illustrate steam generators 136 inwhich water may travel from water reservoir 256 to steaming plate 260 bygravity alone, and a valve 272 may be selectively opened or closed toregulate the flow rate. The valve 272 may be manually operable (i.e. byhand) as seen in FIG. 26. Alternatively or in addition, valve 272 may becommunicably coupled to controller 216 and movable been open and closedpositions according to control signals from controller 216, as shown inFIG. 27.

Returning to FIGS. 24-25, pump 268 may be any device suitable fordelivering water from water reservoir 256 to steaming plate 260. Forexample, pump 268 may be a rotary pump, reciprocating pump, peristalticpump, gear pump, or screw pump. As shown in FIG. 24, pump 268 mayinclude a motor 276 to drive its operation. Motor 276 has been omittedfrom FIG. 25 to provide better visibility of other components.

Referring to FIGS. 24 and 28, steam generator 136 may include anupstream conduit 280 in the flow path 264 from water reservoir outlet284 to pump inlet 288, and a downstream conduit 292 from pump outlet 296to outlet nozzle 304. As shown in FIG. 28, outlet nozzle 304 may bepositioned and oriented to direct the water flow (e.g. as a spray,stream, or droplets) onto steaming plate 260.

Still referring to FIG. 28, steaming plate 260 may be any devicesuitable to accommodate the vaporization of water deposited thereon. Inthe illustrated example, steaming plate 260 is a flat, horizontal plateupon which water from outlet nozzle 304 is deposited (e.g., water maydrip thereon). On contact, the deposited water may spread over the plateupper surface 308, and vaporize. In some embodiments, steam generator136 may not include a heat source to vaporize liquid deposited onsteaming plate 260. Instead, steaming plate 260 may be heated byradiation from one or more heating elements 120. For example, steamingplate 260 may be positioned within close proximity (e.g. less than 10cm, such as 0 cm to 10 cm) of one or more heating elements 120.Radiation from heating elements 120 may heat steaming plate 260 above100° C. so that water on steaming plate 260 rapidly boils and/orvaporizes into gas and/or vapor.

Steaming plate 260 may be positioned anywhere within cooking chamber104. For example, steaming plate 260 may be positioned above or at anupper end of a cooking zone 180, to one side of a cooking zone 180, orbelow or at a lower end of a cooking zone 180. FIG. 25 shows an exampleof steaming plate 260 positioned above cooking zone 180. Where thecooking zone 180 has an associated air mover 124, the air mover 124 mayblow air in proximity to steaming plate 260 to mix the generated steamwith the air in the cooking zone 180.

Steaming plate 260 may be positioned at an elevation above, below, orlevel with one or more (or all) heating elements 120 that radiate heatonto the steaming plate 260. FIG. 28 shows an example in which steamingplate 260 is positioned above a heating element 120. This allows heatingelement 120 to radiate upwardly upon steaming plate lower surface 312,without steaming plate 260 providing any obstruction to the downwardradiation from heating element 120 towards one or more cooking zones. Inthe illustrated example, steaming plate 260 is positioned in thedirection of air accelerated by air mover 124. As shown, steaming plate260 may be positioned at the same or lower elevation as air mover 124 sothat the steam rising from steaming plate 260 may be efficiently mixedinto the cooking chamber 104 by the air blown by air mover 124.

Turning to FIG. 29, steaming plate 260 may be positioned anywhererelative to heating elements 120 that allows steaming plate 260 toreceive heat generated by the heating elements 120. In some embodiments,a steaming plate 260 associated with a cooking zone 180 may have ahorizontal position that is between two or more heating elements 120associated with the same cooking zone 180 as shown, or that is betweentwo or more portions of a heating element 120 associated with a cookingzone 180 (e.g. in the case of a U-shaped or circular heating element).This may permit the steaming plate 260 to receive radiation from the twoor more heating elements 120 or heating element portions. In the case ofmultiple heating elements 120 as shown, when one or more of the heatingelements 120 is turned down or turned off by controller 216 (FIG. 13)according to a cooking program, steaming plate 260 may continue toreceive radiation from the other heating element(s) 120 so that watermay continue to be vaporized.

FIG. 29 shows an example in which steaming plate 260 is positionedbetween two heating elements 120, in close proximity to air mover 124.For example, a distance 316 between steaming plate 260 and air mover 124may be less than 2 times (e.g. equal to or less than) a distance 320between steaming plate 260 and one or both of heating elements 120. Anadvantage of this design is that it can allow air mover 124 to moreeffectively distribute the steam generated on steaming plate 260 throughthe cooking zone 180. FIG. 30 shows an example in which steaming plate260 is positioned between two heating elements 120, and spaced fartherfrom air mover 124. For example, distance 316 between steaming plate 260and air mover 124 may be greater than two times (e.g. greater than fourtimes) distance 320 between steaming plate 260 and one or both ofheating elements 120. An advantage of this design is that it canmitigate the air mover 124 from overcooling the steaming plate 260 whichcould undesirably reduce or cease steam production on steaming plate260.

Turning to FIG. 5, each cooking zone 180 may have associated with it asteaming plate 260. As shown, a steaming plate 260 ₁ is positioned abovecooking zone 180 ₁, and a steaming plate 260 ₂ is positioned abovecooking zone 180 ₂. Each steaming plate 260 may receive water from acommon water reservoir 256 as shown, or separate water reservoirs. Anadvantage of providing a common reservoir 256 is that neither steamingplate 260 will run out of water supply while the other has waterremaining in a water reservoir 256, and only one water supply mayrequire monitoring for water level and refilling. In other embodiments,a common steaming plate 260 may be associated with multiple cookingzones 180. For example, the common steaming plate 260 may be positionedto create steam in fluid communication with the multiple cooking zones180.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 31-32, which shows a steam generator 136that includes a heater 328 in accordance with another embodiment. Anadvantage of this design is that it decouples the steam generator 136from reliance on the heating elements of a cooking zone for heat togenerate steam. This can allow, for example, steam generator 136 tocontinue generating steam even when all heating elements are turned off.As shown, steam generator 136 may be formed as a heating container,having a cavity 324 to hold water, and a heater 328 to boil the water inthe cavity 324. The heater 328 can be any device suitable to heat thecontained water to boil. For example, heater 328 may be an electricresistance heater, as shown. In some embodiments, mesh fabric 330 may bepositioned in or over cavity 324 to reduce splashing from the boilingwater.

Reference is now made to FIG. 33, which shows a cooking apparatus 100including a steam generator 136 in accordance with another embodiment.As shown, steam generator 136 may be an ultrasonic vaporizer including anebulizer 332 that vibrates rapidly within a volume of water 336 tovaporize water into water mist. An advantage of this design is that itcan produce low temperature water mist that may not increase the airtemperature within cooking zone 180 in the way that steam might. Thismay avoid unduly increasing the air temperature within cooking zone 180,such as when performing low temperature slow-cooking. A drop in airtemperature within cooking zone 180 can be easily rectified byactivating heating element(s) 120.

FIG. 34 shows a cooking apparatus 100 including a steam generator 136 inaccordance with another embodiment. As shown, steam generator 136 may bean evaporative humidifier, having a liquid absorbent material 340 (e.g.wick) which receives water from water reservoir 256, and allows thewater to evaporate off the surface of the absorbent material 340. Insome embodiments, an air mover 124 may be positioned to direct air overthe surface of absorbent material 340 to accelerate the evaporation.

Any of these alternate steam generators may be placed anywhere alreadydiscussed herein.

Dynamic Energy Utilization

Reference is now made to FIG. 35, which shows a schematic illustrationof electrical components of a cooking apparatus 100 in accordance withan embodiment. As shown, cooking apparatus 100 may include two or morecooking devices (e.g. heating element(s) 120, air mover(s) 124, andsteam generator(s) 136) which are operated under the direction of acontroller 216 according to a cooking program (e.g. set temperature,humidity, cooking end time, etc.). A cooking program may also bereferred to herein as a ‘pre-set cooking setting’, which represents acooking regime. Each of the cooking devices draws electrical power,which may be supplied by an electrical connector 342 connected to mainspower.

Cooking apparatus 100 may have a rated power consumption (also referredto as “rated power”), such as 1,500 W for example, which may represent amaximum power input for which the cooking apparatus 100 is designed tooperate. In some embodiments, controller 216 may regulate the operationof the cooking devices (e.g. devices 120, 124, and 136) so that cookingapparatus consumes at least 75% (e.g. at least 80% or 90% or 100%) ofthe rated power during at least 50% (e.g. at least 60%, at least 70%, orat least 90%, or 100%) of the cooking time of a cooking program. Thecooking program may include controller 216 maintaining cookingcondition(s) including one or more (or all) of a pre-determinedtemperature, humidity, radiative heating, convective heating, air speed,etc. An advantage of maintaining high power consumption during a largeportion of the cooking time is that food may cook more quickly (e.g. byapparatus 100 acting to consume additional power when available). Toavoid overcooking food (e.g., by providing too much IR radiation and/orby the temperature of the air in the cooking chamber being too high),the cooking cyclone may be adjusted (such as by controller 216) todirect energy from one or more of the heating elements to the fan and/orthe steam generator. Thus, for example, when food is sufficientlybrowned, the humidity in the cooking chamber may be increased and/orforced convention may be created or the speed of air in the cookingchamber may be increased. In addition, during any portion of a cookingcycle, the amount of humidity in the cooking chamber may be increased byincreasing (or providing) energy to the steam generator and reducingenergy provided to, e.g., the heating element and/or the fan.Furthermore, this design may allow apparatus 100 to operate more energyefficiently. In many cases, devices 120, 124, and 136 achieve theirhighest energy efficiency when operating at 75% or more of theirrespective rated powers. Moreover, by cooking food more quickly, theremay be less time during the cooking cycle for apparatus 100 toexperience heat loss to the environment.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature ofdynamic energy utilization described herein may be used with any of thefeatures of multiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and thecooking vessel, subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, steamgeneration, heating element power modes, door transparency, removablehandle, retractable door, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution,insulation and air cooling, heating ducts, common motor drive, smokeand/or odor control, reorientation and expansion, vertical cooking,toaster, heat storage members, and other features described herein.

Cooking apparatus 100 may vary one or more of (i) the heat output ofheating elements 120, (ii) the air speed from air movers 124, (iii) thewater flow rate to steam generators 136, and (iv) the heat output of aheater of the steam generator, to regulate the power consumption ofcooking apparatus 100. To maintain high power consumption while reducingtemperature (or allowing temperature to drop) within a cooking zone 180,controller 216 may increase the air speed from air mover 124 so that thecirculating air cools heating element 120 and/or controller 216 mayincrease water flow rate to steam generator 136 so that energy isconsumed to vaporize water.

In some embodiments, in response to a reduction in power consumptionfrom cooking devices associated with one cooking zone 180 (e.g. cookingzone 180 ₁), controller 216 may direct cooking devices associated withone or more other cooking zones 180 (e.g. cooking zone 180 ₂ or 180 ₃)to consume additional power. This may permit the food in the othercooking zone(s) 180 to be cooked more quickly when power becomesavailable. For example, when controller 216 directs heating element 120₁ to draw less power (e.g. to maintain or reduce the temperature withincooking zone 180 ₁), controller 216 may also direct heating elements 120₂ and 120 ₃ to consume additional power (e.g. to increase thetemperature within cooking zones 180 ₂ and 180 ₃). In the result, thefoods within the cooking zones 180 of cooking apparatus 100 may becooked more quickly by maintaining a power consumption close to therated power for a majority of the cooking time.

Heating Elements with Power Modes

Reference is now made to FIGS. 36-37. In some embodiments, two or moreheating elements 120, associated with the same or different cookingzones, may be selectively configured between low and high power modes.In the low power mode, the heating elements 120 may consume less powerand emit less heat than when in the high power mode. FIGS. 36-37illustrate an embodiment in which heating elements 120 ₁ and 120 ₂ maybe toggled between a lower power mode (FIG. 36) and a high power mode(FIG. 37). As shown, in the low power mode (FIG. 36), heating elements120 may be electrically connected in series. This reduces the voltagedrop across each heating element 120 so that they consume less power andgenerate less heat, all else being equal. In the high power mode (FIG.37), heating elements 120 may be electrically connected in parallel. Theparallel configuration increases the voltage drop across heatingelements 120 relative to the series configuration, so that they consumemore power and generate more heat, all else being equal.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature ofheating element power modes described herein may be used with any of thefeatures of multiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and thecooking vessel, subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, steamgeneration, dynamic energy utilization, door transparency, removablehandle, retractable door, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution,insulation and air cooling, heating ducts, common motor drive, smokeand/or odor control, reorientation and expansion, vertical cooking,toaster, heat storage members, and other features described herein.

Heating elements 120 may be connected by any electrical circuit 344suitable for selectively reconfiguring the heating elements 120 betweenparallel and series configurations. In the illustrated embodiment,electrical circuit 344 is shown including a switch 348 (e.g. a doublethrow double pole switch) having a first position (FIG. 36) in whichheating elements 120 are electrically connected in parallel, and asecond position (FIG. 37) in which heating elements 120 are electricalconnected in series. Switch 348 may be manually operated (i.e. by hand),or electrically operated as shown. For example, the position of switch348 may be directed by controller 216 in accordance with a cookingprogram.

Whatever circuit may be employed to provide heating elements 120 withlow and high power modes, controller 216 may select the power mode ofheating elements 120 (e.g. toggle switch 348 between the first andsecond positions) based on a cooking program (e.g. stored in memorywithin controller 216), and signals from a temperature sensor 350 (e.g.a thermocouple, thermistor, solid-state temperature sensor, or lowhysteresis thermomechanical sensor) communicatively coupled to thecontroller 216. The temperature sensor 350 may be positioned anywherewithin cooking apparatus 100 suitable for determining the temperatureinside one or more cooking zones 180 (FIG. 4) (i.e. temperature sensor350 may be ‘thermally coupled’ to one or more cooking zones 180 (FIG.4)). For example, controller 216 may direct heating elements 120 tooperate in the high power mode when temperature sensor 350 indicates atemperature within a cooking zone that is below the temperature requiredby the cooking program, and vice versa.

Referring to FIG. 13, in some embodiments, controller 216 executes acooking program (e.g. stored in memory within controller 216, andselected by the user) that includes one or more (or all) of a prescribedtemperature, humidity, and forced convection level for the entirecooking cycle, or for each of several portions of the cooking cycle. Forexample, controller 216 may execute a cooking cycle that includes theair mover 124 operating at a lower power level during a first portion ofthe cooking cycle (e.g. first or early 1-10 minutes), and operating at ahigher power level during a subsequent second portion of the cookingcycle (e.g. next, later, or last 10-600 minutes).

As described above, an increase in air flow over heating element 120 mayact to heat the air flow and cool the heating element 120 wherebyconvective heating from the air flow may be increased and radiativeheating from the heating element 120 may be reduced, and vice versa.Accordingly, in embodiments where the air mover 124 is positioned tocause air to pass over heating element 120, a lower fan power level mayallow heating element 120 (e.g. an IR heating element) to radiategreater heat (e.g. IR radiation) onto the food, all else being equal.

As an example, during a first or early portion of the cooking cycle,controller 216 may operate air mover 124 at a lower power level for aduration (e.g. 1-10 minutes) suitable for browning or searing the foodby intense heat radiation. During a subsequent, later, or last portionof the cooking cycle, controller 216 may operate air mover 124 at ahigher power level to reduce the temperature of heating element 120,whereby radiative heating may be reduced and convective heating may beincreased, such as for the purpose of cooking the food to a desireddoneness.

Power Consumption Balance Between Cooking Zones

Reference is now made to FIG. 13. In some embodiments, controller 216may coordinate the power consumption by cooking devices associated withdifferent zones 180 so that cooking apparatus 100 maintains a powerconsumption that is at least 75% (e.g. at least 80%, 90% or 100%) of therated power of the cooking apparatus 100 during cooking. In general,when power consumption by cooking zones 180 is redistributed, a decreasein power consumption of a cooking zone 180 may slow the cooking of thefood in that cooking zone 180, and an increase in power consumption ofanother cooking zone 180 may speed up the cooking of the food in thisother cooking zone 180.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature of powerconsumption balance described herein may be used with any of thefeatures of multiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and thecooking vessel, subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, steamgeneration, dynamic energy utilization, heating element power modes,door transparency, removable handle, retractable door, self-cleaning,cooking additive distribution, insulation and air cooling, heatingducts, common motor drive, smoke and/or odor control, reorientation andexpansion, vertical cooking, toaster, heat storage members, and otherfeatures described herein.

In one embodiment, controller 216 executes a cooking program (e.g.stored in memory within controller 216, and selected by the user) tocook foods 220 such that food 220 ₁ within cooking zone 180 ₁ completescooking a predetermined period of time (e.g. 15 minutes) before food 220₂ within cooking zone 180 ₂ completes cooking. This can allow the foods220 (e.g. appetizers) to be finished cooking and served in sequence overa period of time (e.g. over the course of a banquet reception). In thiscase, controller 216 may divide the rated power (or at least 75%, 80% or90% of the rated power) between the cooking devices (e.g. heatingelements 120) of the first and second cooking zones 180 to achieve thesequential cooking completion times prescribed by the cooking program.For example, where foods 220 ₁ and 220 ₂ are identical, controller 216may direct the cooking devices associated with cooking zone 180 ₁ (e.g.heating element 120 ₁ and steam generator 136 ₁) to collectively consumemore power than the collective power consumption of the cooking devicesassociated with cooking zone 180 ₂ (e.g. heating element 120 ₂ and steamgenerator 136 ₂) so that food 220 ₂ completes cooking a set time afterfood 220 ₁.

Similarly, controller 216 may execute a cooking program to cook foods220 such that food 220 ₁ within cooking zone 180 ₁ completes cooking atapproximately the same time (e.g. at exactly the same time, or within 1minute) of the food 220 ₂ within cooking zone 180 ₂. This can allow thefoods 220 ₁ (e.g. meat) and 220 ₂ (e.g. vegetables) to be plated andserved at the same time. In this case, controller 216 may divide therated power (or at least 75%, 80% or 90% of the rated power) between thecooking devices (e.g. heating elements 120) of the first and secondcooking zones 180 to achieve the substantially simultaneous cookingcompletion times prescribed by the cooking program. For example, wherefood 220 ₁ requires more heat to complete cooking than food 220 ₂,controller 216 may direct the cooking devices associated with cookingzone 180 ₁ (e.g. heating element 120 ₁ and 136 ₁) to collectivelyconsume more power than the collective power consumption of the cookingdevices associated with cooking zone 180 ₂ (e.g. heating element 120 ₂and steam generator 136 ₂) so that foods 220 ₁ and 220 ₂ completecooking at approximately the same time.

Transparent Door, Removable Handle, Retractable Door and Lights

Reference is now made to FIG. 1. In some embodiments, a sidewall 108 ofcooking chamber 104 may include a cooking chamber door 116. Cookingchamber door 116 may define a wall of one or more (or all) cooking zones180. For example, a wall of the cooking chamber 104. At least a portionof cooking chamber door 116 may also be substantially transparent (e.g.at least 50% transparent to visible light) to allow the user to viewinto the one or more cooking zones 180 and determine the status of thefoods cooking inside. Cooking chamber door 116 may include anytransparent material suitable to provide visibility of food insidecooking chamber 104 and which is heat resistant (e.g. to at least 400°F.). For example, cooking chamber door 116 may be made of transparentglass.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature of doortransparency described herein may be used with any of the features ofmultiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and the cooking vessel,subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, steam generation, dynamicenergy utilization, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution,insulation and air cooling, heating ducts, common motor drive, smokeand/or odor control, reorientation and expansion, vertical cooking,toaster, heat storage members, and other features described herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment in which cooking chamber door 116defines a wall to both of cooking zones 180 ₁ and 180 ₂. As shown,cooking chamber door 116 includes a transparent portion 352 and anon-transparent portion 356. Transparent portion 352 may be sized andpositioned so that when cooking chamber door 116 is in the closedposition shown, a user can see through the transparent portion 352 intothe first and second cooking zones 180. In the illustrated example,cooking vessels 160 ₁ and 160 ₂ are shown positioned in cooking zones180 with solid sidewalls 162 that would block visibility to food withinthe cooking vessels 160. In other embodiments, one or both of cookingvessels 160 ₁ and 160 ₂ may be removed (see, e.g. FIGS. 10 and 11),and/or a front-facing vessel wall 162 may be configured to providevisibility of the food inside when a user peers through transparentportion 352 of cooking chamber door 116. For example, a front-facingvessel wall 162 may include a substantially transparent material (e.g.glass), or open area(s) (e.g. apertures or spacing between wires orbars). In some embodiments, front-facing vessel wall 162 may have atleast 30% open area to provide clear visibility to the food inside. Forexample, front-facing vessel wall 162 may include a wire mesh material.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, cooking chamber door 116 may be movablebetween a closed position (FIG. 1) and an open position (FIG. 2). In theopen position (FIG. 2) cooking vessels 160 may be inserted or removedfrom cooking chamber 104 through cooking chamber front wall 108 ₅. Asshown, a cooking vessel 160 may include a handle 360 that a user maygrasp to manipulate the position of the cooking vessel 160. In someembodiments, handle 360 may be removably connected to cooking vessel160. This may permit handle 360 to be removed during cooking cycles whencooking chamber door 116 is closed. An advantage of this design is thatvessel handle 360 can remain cool outside of the cooking chamber 104,ready to be reconnected to the cooking vessel 160 after the cookingcycle is complete. Another advantage of this design is that vesselhandle 360 does not occupy space within cooking chamber 104 which mayallow cooking chamber 104 to accommodate a larger volume cooking vessel160, all else being equal.

FIGS. 1 and 38 show a cooking vessel 160 with a handle removed, andFIGS. 2 and 39 show cooking vessel 160 with a handle 360 attached.Handle 360 may have any configuration that can be grasped by a user toremove and insert a cooking vessel 160 into cooking chamber 104.Further, handle 360 may be removably connected to cooking vessel 160 inany manner that allows handle 360 to be connected to manipulate theposition of cooking vessel 160 and disconnected after cooking vessel 160is moved into the cooking chamber 104. In the illustrated example,front-facing vessel sidewall 162 includes a connecting member 364, andhandle 360 includes a connecting member 368. Connecting members 364 and368 are configured to mate as shown in FIG. 39, and while mated a usercan manipulate handle 360 to slide cooking vessel 160 in and out ofcooking chamber 104.

Returning to FIG. 1, cooking chamber door 116 may be movably connectedto cooking apparatus 100 in any manner that allows cooking chamber door116 to move between open and closed positions. For example, cookingchamber door 116 may be slidably or pivotally connected to cookingapparatus 100. In the illustrated embodiment, cooking chamber door 116is pivotally connected to an outer housing 372 of cooking apparatus 100.As shown, cooking chamber door 116 may include a hinge 376 that connectsthe cooking chamber door 116 to cooking apparatus 100.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 2 and 3. In some embodiments, whencooking chamber door 116 is in the open position, the cooking chamberdoor 116 may be moved between an extended open position (FIG. 2) and aretracted open position (FIG. 3). In the retracted position (FIG. 3), atleast a portion of cooking chamber door 116 (e.g. at least 25% or atleast 50% of cooking chamber door 116) may be positioned within astorage recess 380. An advantage of this design is that the retractedopen position may reduce the footprint of cooking apparatus 100, andprevent cooking chamber door 116 from being dirtied or damaged whilemanipulating cooking vessels 160 or cooking receptacles 140.

Storage recess 380 may be positioned on any side of cooking chamber 104.In the illustrated example, storage recess 380 is shown positioned belowcooking chamber bottom wall 108 ₂. In other embodiments, storage recess380 may be positioned above cooking chamber upper wall 108 ₁, or to theleft or right of cooking chamber left and right walls 108 ₃ and 108 ₄.As shown, storage recess 380 may be substantially parallel to anadjacent cooking chamber sidewall 108. For example, storage recess 380is shown as a extending substantially horizontally parallel to cookingchamber bottom wall 108 ₂.

Cooking chamber door 116 may be movable into storage recess 380 in anymanner. In the illustrated embodiment, cooking chamber door 116 isreoriented to parallel with storage recess 380 when moved from theclosed position (FIG. 1) to the extended open position (FIG. 2). Fromthe extended open position (FIG. 2), cooking chamber door 116 may betranslated rearwards into storage recess 380. As shown, storage recess380 may include one or more door guides 384 that support cooking chamberdoor 116 in the open retracted position and guide cooking chamber door116 into storage recess 380.

In alternative embodiments, cooking chamber door 116 may not have aretracted open position. Accordingly, cooking apparatus 100 may notinclude a storage recess 380, which may reduce the size of cookingapparatus 100 all else being equal.

Referring to FIGS. 40-42, cooking apparatus 100 may include one or morelights 388 configured to illuminate one or more cooking zones 180 withincooking chamber 104. An advantage of this design is that the additionalillumination can provide better visibility inside cooking chamber 104 toa user peering through transparent portion 352 of cooking chamber door116.

Light 388 can be any device suitable for illuminating a cooking zone180. For example, light 388 may include an incandescent light, a halogenlight, a compact fluorescent light, an LED light, or another type oflight. As shown in FIG. 40, light 388 may be positioned within cookingchamber 104. In this case, light 388 may be heat resistant to at leastthe rated cooking temperatures inside cooking chamber 104 (e.g. at least400° F.). In other embodiments, light 388 may be located outside ofcooking chamber 104. FIG. 41 illustrates an example of a light 388positioned outside of cooking chamber 104 and oriented to shine lightinto cooking chamber 104 through cooking chamber door 116. An advantageof this design is that it allows the use of more conventional, non-heatresistant lights 388, which may be more economical and easier for aconsumer to purchase.

Referring to FIG. 42, in some embodiments, light 388 is positionedexterior to cooking chamber 104 and the illumination produced is routedinto cooking chamber 104 by a light transmitter 392, such as a lightpipe, fiber optics, or glass tube. Light transmitter 392 may extend froma first end 396 located outside of cooking chamber 104 to a second end404 located inside of cooking chamber 104. First end 396 may bepositioned to receive illumination produced by light 388, and second end404 may be positioned to emit the transmitted light into one or more (orall) cooking zones 180.

Self-Cleaning

Reference is now made to FIG. 43. In some embodiments, cooking apparatus100 may include a self-cleaning function. An advantage of this design isthat it can make cleaning cooking apparatus 100 less work for the user.As shown, cooking apparatus may include a liquid reservoir 408, a spraynozzle 412, and a pump 416 in a flow path 420 that extends from theliquid reservoir 408 to the spray nozzle 412. Pump 416 may becommunicatively coupled to controller 216, which may signal pump 416 toactivate and move liquid from liquid reservoir 408 to nozzle 412 tospray into cooking chamber 104. The liquid may act to remove dirt thathas accumulated on the walls of the cooking chamber 104 and/or othercomponents inside cooking chamber 104 (e.g. cooking receptacles 140 andcooking vessels 160).

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature ofself-cleaning described herein may be used with any of the features ofmultiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and the cooking vessel,subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, steam generation, dynamicenergy utilization, door transparency, removable handle, retractabledoor, cooking additive distribution, insulation and air cooling, heatingducts, common motor drive, smoke and/or odor control, reorientation andexpansion, vertical cooking, toaster, heat storage members, and otherfeatures described herein.

Liquid reservoir 408 may hold any liquid suitable for cleaningfood-based accumulations (e.g. burnt or dehydrated food particles, oilresidue, or other food matter) within cooking chamber 104. For example,liquid reservoir 408 may store water, detergent, or a mixture of waterand detergent. Spray nozzle 412 may be any device suitable to distributeliquid drawn by pump 416 onto the surfaces inside cooking chamber 104.In some embodiments, cooking apparatus 100 includes a plurality of spraynozzles 412 that receive liquid from liquid reservoir 408 (e.g. via pump416 or another pump) to provide more complete coverage over the surfaceswithin cooking chamber 104.

After making contact with the surfaces within cooking chamber 104, thesprayed liquid may be collected in a disposal container 424. Forexample, cooking chamber bottom wall 108 ₂ may be sloped to directaccumulated liquid by gravity into an outlet port 428 into disposalcontainer 424. Disposal container 424 may be removable from cookingapparatus 100 so that the collected dirty liquid can be discarded (e.g.into a drain). Outlet port 428 of disposal container 424 may becloseable so that the dirty liquid does not spill while carryingdisposal container 424.

In some embodiments, controller 216 may be operable to execute acleaning program. The cleaning program may be stored in memory withincontroller 216, and may include instructions that configure controller216 to activate pump 416 to deliver liquid to spray nozzle 412 to sprayinto cooking chamber 104. In some embodiments, the cleaning program mayalso include powering heating element(s) 120 to heat cooking chamber 104(e.g. to a predetermined cleaning temperature). Depending on thecomposition of the cleaning liquid, the heating may improve the cleaningefficiency of the cleaning liquid.

Cooking Additive

Reference is now made to FIG. 44. In some embodiments, cooking apparatus100 may include a cooking additive distributor 432. Cooking additivedistributor 432 may be any device operable to distribute cookingadditive onto food 220 within a cooking zone 180. Cooking additive maybe any human editable substance and may be liquid (e.g. cooking oil,stock, or wine), or solid (e.g. dried spices or herbs, natural orartificial, which may be flaked or powdered). An advantage of thisdesign is that it can automate the addition of cooking additives to foodat the start, finish, or intermediate portion of a cooking cycle,thereby relieving the user of taking this action. Moreover, the additionof cooking additives may take place without opening cooking zone 180(i.e. without opening the cooking chamber door) for user access to food220, and therefore without venting the hot and/or humid atmospherewithin cooking zone 180.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature ofcooking additive distribution described herein may be used with any ofthe features of multiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and thecooking vessel, subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, steamgeneration, dynamic energy utilization, door transparency, removablehandle, retractable door, self-cleaning, insulation and air cooling,heating ducts, common motor drive, smoke and/or odor control,reorientation and expansion, vertical cooking, toaster, heat storagemembers, and other features described herein.

As shown, cooking additive distributor 432 may include one or more (i.e.one or multiple) additive reservoirs 436, which may be connected to oneor more additive spray nozzles 440 by way of one or more conduits 444. Aconveyor 448 may be positioned in the additive flow path betweenadditive reservoir 436 and additive spray nozzle 440 to force or admit(e.g. by gravity) additive from additive reservoir 436 to discharge fromspray nozzle 440.

Additive conveyor 448 may be any device suitable for forcing oradmitting additive from additive reservoir 436 to discharge from spraynozzle 440. In some embodiments, additive conveyor 448 may include apump (e.g. for liquid additive), a blower (e.g. for powdered conveyor),a belt conveyor (e.g. for larger solids), or a valve (e.g. for gravityfeeding flowable additives) for example.

Still referring to FIG. 44, controller 216 may be communicativelycoupled to cooking additive distributor 432 for directing the timing andquantities of additive to be introduced into the cooking zone 180,according to a cooking program (e.g. stored in memory of the controller216). In one example, controller 216 may have a cooking program formaking cooked French fries from raw, fresh (i.e. not frozen), slicedpotato sticks 220. The cooking program may include:

-   -   i. activating steam generator 136 for a duration (e.g. 1 to 15        minutes) sufficient to par-cook the potato sticks 220,    -   ii. deactivating steam generator 136,    -   iii. activating cooking additive distributor 432 to spray coat        the potato sticks 220 with cooking oil (e.g. vegetable oil),    -   iv. deactivating cooking additive distributor 432, and    -   v. activating heating elements 120 (e.g. infra-red heating        elements) to cook the potato sticks 220 until the potato sticks        220 are golden brown French fries (e.g. for a predetermined time        period, such as 1 to 45 minutes).

Insulation and Air Cooling

Reference is now made to FIG. 45. In some embodiments, cooking apparatus100 may have insulation 452 surrounding at least a portion (e.g. atleast 50%, or at least 70%) of cooking chamber 104. An advantage of thisdesign is that it can reduce heat loss through cooking chamber sidewalls108, whereby more heat is retained within cooking chamber 104, and lesspower is required (e.g. to power cooking devices, such as air movers,steam generators, and heating elements) to replace the lost heat.Consequently, cooking apparatus 100 (which may be a counter top,portable cooking appliance which has an electrical plug for insertioninto a household electrical outlet) may operate more energy efficiently,and may be capable of increasing the temperature within cooking chamber104 more rapidly, all else being equal. Another advantage of this designis that it can help keep outer housing 372 (also referred as ‘outershell’ 372) cooler so that outer housing 372 may be safe to touch.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the features ofinsulation and air cooling described herein may be used with any of thefeatures of multiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and thecooking vessel, subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, steamgeneration, dynamic energy utilization, door transparency, removablehandle, retractable door, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution,heating ducts, common motor drive, smoke and/or odor control,reorientation and expansion, vertical cooking, toaster, heat storagemembers, and other features described herein.

Insulation 452 may be any heat insulating material, such as for examplea vacuum insulated panel, silica aerogel, polyurethane (e.g. rigid panelor spray foam), polystyrene, or fiberglass matting. Preferably,insulation 452 has an insulation property of at least R-5. As shown,insulation 452 may be laid between cooking chamber sidewalls 108 andappliance outer shell 372.

Still referring to FIG. 45, in some embodiments cooking apparatus 100may include a cooling fan 456 positioned to introduce ambient air (i.e.air external to cooking apparatus 100) into a space between cookingchamber 104 (which may form an inner shell) and appliance outer shell372. For example, cooling fan 456 may be positioned to blow air throughvacant space 460 between insulation 452 and appliance outer shell 372.The circulating ambient air may help to cool the appliance outer shell372 making the appliance outer shell 372 safer to touch during cooking.In the illustrated example, cooling fan 456 is positioned adjacent anair opening 464 (also referred to as cooling air inlet 464) in applianceouter shell 372 through which cooling fan 456 draws air into vacantspace 460. In other embodiments, the fan may be positioned betweeninsulation 452 and appliance outer shell 372 or at an exhaust airoutlet.

FIGS. 66-68 show a cooking apparatus 100 in accordance with anembodiment. As shown, cooking apparatus 100 may include an outer shell372 having outer shell sides 576. Outer shell sides 576 may include atop 576 ₁, a front 576 ₂, a rear 576 ₃, and transversely opposed sides576 ₄ and 576 ₅. Outer shell sides 576 may be defined by one or morepanels 580. For example, outer shell 372 may include one or more (orall) of a top panel 580 ₁, a front panel 580 ₂, a rear panel 580 ₃, andtransversely opposed side panels 580 ₄ and 580 ₅. One or more of shellsides 576 may include an opening 584 to cooking chamber 104 that can beopened and closed by moving a cooking chamber door 116.

Turning to FIGS. 69-70, cooking apparatus 100 may include an inner shell588. Inner shell 588 may include inner shell panels 592 including one ormore (or all) of a top panel 592 ₁, a rear panel 592 ₂, and transverselyopposed side panels 592 ₃ and 592 ₄. One or more (or all) of inner shellpanels 592 may be provided by a cooking chamber sidewall 108, or all ofinner shell panels 592 may be discrete from cooking chamber sidewalls108. In the schematic illustration of FIG. 69, all of inner shell panels592 are provided by cooking chamber sidewalls 108. In the exampleembodiment of FIG. 70, a subset of inner shell panels 592 (e.g. toppanel 592 ₁ and one side panel 592 ₃) is provided by cooking chambersidewalls 108 (e.g. top wall 108 ₁, and left side wall 108 ₃), and atleast one inner shell panel 592 (e.g. side panel 592 ₄) is discrete fromcooking chamber sidewalls 108 (e.g. discrete from right side wall 108₄).

Still referring to FIGS. 69-70, inner shell 588 may be spaced from andfacing at least a portion of (e.g. some or all of) outer shell 372. Forexample, one or more (or all) of inner shell panels 592 may be spacedfrom and facing a corresponding outer shell panel 580. In theillustrated embodiment, outer shell top and side panels 580 ₁, 580 ₃,580 ₄, are shown spaced from and facing corresponding inner shell topand side panels 592 ₁, 592 ₃, 592 ₄ respectively.

An air flow passage 596 may be defined in the space 460 between innerand outer shells 588, 372. As shown, air flow passage 596 may extendfrom a cooling air inlet 604 to an exhaust outlet 608. A cooling fanassembly 456 may be positioned to move ambient air (i.e. air external tocooking apparatus 100) into air flow passage 596 through cooling airinlet 604, and out of air flow passage 596 through exhaust outlet 608.The cool ambient air flowing through air flow passage 596 may helpreduce the temperature of outer shell 372, which may make outer shell372 safe for users to touch.

As shown, cooking chamber 104 may be isolated from air flowcommunication with air flow passage 596. This may mitigate the ambientair flow cooling cooking chamber 104 during a cooking cycle. In theillustrated embodiment, air flow passage 596 is bounded by (e.g. incontact with) inner shell 588. FIGS. 71-72 show an alternativeembodiment including optional insulation 452 between inner and outershells 588, 372. Insulation 452 may overlie at least a portion of one orboth of inner shell 588 and outer shell 372. In the illustratedembodiment, insulation 452 is shown overlying inner shell 588, wherebyair flow passage 596 extends between outer shell 372 and insulation 452.In this configuration, insulation 452 may reduce heat loss from cookingchamber 104 to the cooling air flow within passage 596. It will beappreciated that the insulation may be adjacent the inner shell and/orthe outer shell.

Still referring to FIGS. 71-72, cooling fan assembly 456 may be locatedanywhere that allows cooling fan assembly 456 when activated to move airwithin air flow passage 596 from cooling air inlet 604 to exhaust outlet608. For example, cooling fan assembly 456 may be located internal toair flow passage 596 as shown, or external to air flow passage 596.FIGS. 69-72 show examples in which cooling fan assembly 456 is locatedat cooling air inlet 604. This may reduce hot air exposure to coolingfan assembly 456 as compared with positioning cooling fan assembly 456at exhaust outlet 608 where the air flow is hottest. FIGS. 73-74 showalternative embodiments in which cooling fan assembly 456 is located atexhaust outlet 608. This may help to blow hot air exiting exhaust outlet608 farther from outer shell 372, which may mitigate the exhausted hotair accumulating around outer shell 372 where it can burn users.

In alternative embodiments, cooling fan assembly 456 may be locatedwithin air flow passage 596 between cooling air inlet 604 and exhaustoutlet 608. In some embodiments, cooking apparatus 100 includes two ormore cooling fan assemblies 456. For example, cooking apparatus 100 mayinclude one cooling fan assembly 456 at cooling air inlet 604 and onecooling fan assembly 456 at exhaust outlet 608. FIG. 75 shows anembodiment in which cooling fan assembly 456 includes at least two fanassemblies 456, both of which are located at a cooling air inlet oroutlet (e.g. depending on the configured flow direction of the fanassemblies 456). This may provide greater cooling capacity (e.g. coolingairflow rates) without adding substantially to the size (e.g. outsidedimensions) of cooking apparatus 100.

Referring to FIGS. 71-72, cooling air inlet 604 and exhaust outlet 608may be positioned anywhere on outer shell 372. For example, cooling airinlet 604 and exhaust outlet 608 may be located at opposed sides 576(e.g. opposed panels 580) of outer shell 372. This may allow the airflow passage 556 which extends from cooling air inlet 604 to exhaustoutlet 608 to provide cooling for several sides 576 (e.g. panels 580) ofouter shell 372. Moreover, this may provide separation between coolingair inlet 604 and exhaust outlet 608, which may mitigate cooling airinlet 604 recirculating hot air discharged from exhaust outlet 608.

In the illustrated embodiment, cooling air inlet 604 is located at oneouter shell side 576 ₅ (e.g. outer shell panel 580 ₅), and exhaustoutlet 608 is located at a transversely opposed outer shell side 576 ₄(e.g. outer shell panel 580 ₄). As shown, air flow passage 596 mayextend over (and thereby provide cooling for) transversely opposed outershell sides 576 ₄, 576 ₅ (e.g. outer shell panels 580 ₄, 580 ₅) andouter shell top side 576 ₁ (e.g. outer shell top panel 580 ₁). In use,transversely opposed sides 576 ₄, 576 ₅, and top side 576 ₁ may be themost commonly exposed to user contact, and therefore obtain the greatestbenefit from forced air cooling. In some embodiments, air flow passage596 may also extend along outer shell lower side 576 ₆ (e.g. outer shelllower panel 580 ₆) as shown. This may mitigate heat damage to acounter-top surface on which cooking apparatus 100 is supported.

Referring to FIGS. 76-78, in some embodiments a cooling air flow passage596 extends primarily (e.g. exclusively) along one outer shell side 576(e.g. one outer shell panel 580). There may be one or many such coolingair flow passages 596 extending along different outer shell sides 576.One or more cooling fan assembly 456 may be associated with each suchair flow passage 596. This may allow the cooling provided by eachcooling air flow passage 596 to different outer shell sides 576 to beindividually controlled. In the illustrated example, an air flow passage596 is shown extending primarily along outer shell side 576 ₅ betweenfront side 576 ₁ and rear side 576 ₃. As shown, the cooling air inlet604 and exhaust outlet 608 may be provided in the front and rear sides576 ₂, 576 ₃ (e.g. front and rear panels 580 ₂, 580 ₃).

Referring to FIGS. 79-80, in some embodiments one or more cooling fanassemblies 496 may be positioned to blow external air over an exteriorsurface of outer shell 372. This may simplify the design of cookingapparatus 100 by eliminating the need for providing an air flow passagebetween outer and inner shells. This may also make fan assembly 456 moreeasily accessed for cleaning, repair, or replacement, and may allow fanassembly 456 to be removed to make cooking apparatus 100 more compact.The cooling fan assembly (or assemblies) 456 may be positioned to directexterior air over an exterior of any one or more of outer shell sides576 (e.g. over any one or more outer shell panels 580). In theillustrated example, cooking apparatus 100 includes cooling fanassemblies 456 positioned to direct exterior air over transverselyopposed sides 576 ₄, 576 ₅ (e.g. over outer shell panels 580 ₄, 580 ₅).

Returning to FIG. 69, cooling fan assembly 456 may be activated in anymanner that allows cooling fan assembly 456 to provide air cooling toone or more of outer shell sides 576 (e.g. to one of more of outer shellpanels 580). In some embodiments, cooling fan assembly 456 may beactivated whenever cooking apparatus 100 is activated. For example,cooling fan assembly 456 and cooking apparatus 100 may be directlyconnected to a common power circuit, whereby cooling fan assembly 456 ispowered on to provide cooling whenever cooking apparatus 100 is poweredon or whenever cooking apparatus 100 is performing a cooking cycle. Thismay simplify the activation logic for cooling fan assembly 456, whichmay reduce the cost and complexity of manufacturing cooking apparatus100.

In some embodiments, cooling fan assembly 456 is communicatively coupledto controller 216. This allows controller 216 to provide control signalsthat direct when cooling fan assembly 456 is activated (e.g. powered andproviding air cooling), and inactive (e.g. powered off). As an example,cooling fan assembly 456 may be configured, according to a cookingprogram, to direct cooling fan assembly 456 to remain active for apredetermined duration (e.g. 1 minute to 30 minutes) after a cookingcycle is completed. This may allow cooling fan assembly 456 to coolouter shell 372 after the cooking cycle is completed, thereby mitigatingouter shell becoming hot due to residual heat from cooking chamber 104.

In some embodiments, cooling fan assembly 456 remains active until atemperature sensor 610 senses a temperature below a predeterminedtemperature. This can allow cooling fan assembly 456 to operate only aslong as required for the temperature of outer shell 372 to become safeto touch (e.g. a predetermined threshold less than 50° C.), or safe foradjacent equipment (e.g. a predetermined threshold less than 75° C.).This may reduce the energy consumption and noise produced by cooling fanassembly 456. For example, controller 216 may direct cooling fanassembly 456 to deactivate in response to receiving signals fromtemperature sensor 610 indicative of a temperature below thepredetermined threshold.

As shown, temperature sensor 610 may be thermally coupled to outer shell372. For example, temperature sensor 610 may be located interior ofouter shell 372 as shown (e.g. within air flow passage 596), or exteriorof outer shell 372. In some embodiments, there may be severaltemperature sensors 610. For example, each temperature sensor 610 may beassociated with different positions on outer shell 372.

Alternatively or in addition to deactivating cooling fan assembly 456after a predetermined during following a cooking cycle, or aftertemperature sensor 610 senses a temperature below a predeterminedtemperature, cooling fan assembly 456 may be activated in response totemperature sensor 610 sensing a temperature exceeding a predeterminedtemperature. This can delay activating cooling fan assembly 456 untilouter shell 372 approaches or exceeds a temperature that is unsafe totouch (e.g. with a predetermined temperature of 40° C. or more), or thatis unsafe for adjacent equipment (e.g. with a predetermined temperatureof 60° C. or more). For example, controller 216 may direct cooling fanassembly 456 to activate in response to receiving signals fromtemperature sensor 610 indicative of a temperature exceeding thepredetermined threshold.

Reference is now made to FIG. 81. Alternatively or in addition toproviding cooling for outer shell 372, cooking apparatus 100 may providecooling to cooking chamber door 116. This may help make cooking chamberdoor 116 safe to touch during cooking cycles, which may mitigate usersburning themselves upon contact with cooking chamber door 116.

As shown, cooling air flow passage 596 may extend across cooking chamberdoor 116. This allows the cool ambient air moving through cooling airflow passage 596 to provide cooling to cooking chamber door 116. In theillustrated example, cooking chamber door 116 includes an inner panel612 (also referred as inner layer 612) at least partially spaced from anouter panel 616 (also referred to as outer layer 616) to define a vacantspace 620 between the inner and outer panels 612, 616. Vacant space 620may be positioned in the air flow passage 596 between cooling air inlet604 and exhaust outlet 608.

FIG. 81 shows an example in which cooking door panels 612, 616 areopaque panels (e.g. made of metal, such as stainless steel or aluminum).FIG. 82 shows an example in which cooking door panels 612, 616 eachinclude a transparent potion 352, and transparent portions 352 arealigned to provide visibility into cooking chamber 104.

Referring to FIG. 83, in some embodiments an air flow passage 596extends predominantly (e.g. exclusively) across cooking chamber door116. This may avoid the cost and complexity of positioning an openablecooking chamber door 116 in the same air flow passage that cools outershell 372. As shown, cooking chamber door 116 may include a cooling airinlet 604, an exhaust outlet 608, and an air flow passage 596 fromcooling air inlet 604 to exhaust outlet 608 through vacant space 620. Inthe illustrated example, a cooling fan 456 is provided on cookingchamber door 116 (e.g. within air flow passage 596 as shown, or outsideof air flow passage 596) to move air through air flow passage 596 fromcooling air inlet 604 to exhaust outlet 608.

Reference is now made to FIG. 84. In some embodiments, cooking chamberdoor 116 includes an exhaust outlet 608 ₂ that discharges cooling airfrom air flow passage 596 into contact with (e.g. across) cookingchamber door 116. This can help to cool an outer surface of cookingchamber door 116 to help make cooking chamber door 116 safe to touchduring cooking cycles. For example, this may help to cool a portion(e.g. transparent portion) of cooking chamber door 116 that has only asingle layer, and therefore cannot support an air flow passage 596.

Exhaust outlet 608 ₂ may be located anywhere on cooking chamber door 116suitable to discharge gas from air flow passage 596 into contact with(e.g. across) cooking chamber door 116. In the illustrated example,cooking chamber door 116 includes a transparent panel 352 (e.g. a glasspanel) bordered by a frame 356. As shown, frame 356 may include interiorvacant space 620 positioned in the air flow path 596 downstream ofcooling air inlet 604. Frame 356 may include an exhaust outlet 608formed by one or a plurality of outlet openings 624 oriented todischarge cooling air at cooking chamber door 116. For example, outletopenings 624 may be located along an inner side 628 of frame 356. Asshown, this may permit exhaust outlet 608 to partially or completelysurround door panel 352. This may help to provide more even coolingacross the surface of door panel 352, and thereby mitigate hotspots thatcan burn users on contact.

It will be appreciated that, in another embodiment, cooling air may beblown downwardly over the outer surface of the door when the door is ina closed position. For example, the exhaust outlet may be provided abovethe openable door when the door is in a closed position.

Heating Ducts

In some embodiments, the cooking apparatus may include heating ductsthat distribute hot air into the cooking chamber. The heating ducts mayreceive pressurized air from an upstream fan, and include numerousoutlet perforations of a size and number to product high velocity airstreams (e.g. jets) that impinge on food within the cooking chamber. Thehigh velocity may allow the hot air streams to make direct contact withthe food before diffusing into the cooking chamber. This may exposesurfaces of the food to higher temperature air, which may acceleratecooking. The high velocity air streams may also be effective fordisplaying humid air masses settled around surfaces of the food, andthereby accelerate dehydration such as for the purpose of crisping thefood (e.g. French fries, chicken wings, or pizza crust).

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature ofheating ducts described herein may be used with any of the features ofmultiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and the cooking vessel,subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, steam generation, dynamicenergy utilization, door transparency, removable handle, retractabledoor, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution, insulation and aircooling, common motor drive, smoke and/or odor control, reorientationand expansion, vertical cooking, toaster, heat storage members, andother features described herein.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 85-86. As shown, cooking apparatus 100may include a plurality of heating ducts 644 located downstream of anair mover 124 (e.g. a fan). Air mover 124 and heating ducts 644 may bepositioned in an air flow path 648, which extends from an air inlet 656to outlet openings 660. As shown, air inlet 656 may be provided on asidewall 108 of cooking chamber 104 (e.g. right sidewall 108 ₄ as shown,or any other cooking chamber sidewall 108 such as the upper wall) toallow air mover 124 to pull hot air from cooking chamber 104 into airflow path 648. Outlet openings 660 may be provided in heating ducts 644to allow re-entry of the recirculated hot air back into cooking chamber104 as high velocity air streams.

Heating ducts 644 may be positioned above, below, and/or to one or moreside(s) of cooking chamber 104. The location(s) of heating ducts 644relative to cooking chamber 104 (e.g. above, below, and/or to the side)may depend on the intended use(s) of cooking apparatus 100. For example,heating ducts 644 may be positioned above cooking chamber interiorvolume 112 to allow the air streams 652 re-entering cooking chamber 104to strike food held in containers (e.g. cooking receptacles 140 (FIG.2), or cooking vessel 160 (FIG. 2)), which may shield the food from airstreams entering from other sides of cooking chamber 104. As anotherexample, heating ducts 644 may be positioned below cooking chamberinterior volume 112 to allow the air streams 652 re-entering cookingchamber 104 to strike exposed lower surfaces of foods (e.g. the crust ofa pizza).

The illustrated embodiment shows a plurality of heating ducts 644positioned above cooking volume 112, and a plurality of heating ducts644 positioned below cooking volume 112. This allows cooking apparatus100 to adapt to different foods that have different cooking requirementsand that different exposed surfaces while cooking. Heating ducts 644 mayextend in a lateral (i.e. side-to-side, or left-right) direction asshown, or in a forward-rearward direction as in FIGS. 95-96.

Reference is now made to FIG. 87. In some embodiments, one or moreheating elements 120 may be positioned in the air flow path 648. Thisallows the diffuse air pulled into the air flow path 648 by air mover124 to be heated to a higher temperature within air flow path 648 beforere-entering cooking chamber 104 through air outlet openings 660.

Heating element(s) 120 may be positioned anywhere along air flow path648. For example, a heating element 120 may be positioned within one ormore (or all) of heating ducts 644. This positions heating elements 120immediately upstream of air outlet openings 660, whereby air heated byheating elements 120 immediately re-enters cooking chamber 104 throughair outlet openings 660. As compared with positioning heating elements120 upstream of heating ducts 644, this design may help reduce heat loss(and thus improve energy efficiency) as the air flow travels fromheating elements 120 to air outlet openings 660.

Alternatively or in addition, a heating element 120 may be positioned inair flow path 648 upstream of air outlet openings 660. This may permitrelatively few heating elements 120 (e.g. a single heating element 120)to heat all of the air that ultimately exits air outlet openings 660. Insome embodiments, this may reduce the number of heating elements 120 incooking apparatus 100 and thereby reduce the cost and complexity ofmanufacturing cooking apparatus 100.

Still referring to FIG. 87, air mover 124 may be sized to produce a flowrate (e.g. in cubic feet per minute, CFM) of air sufficient to produceair streams 652 at air outlet openings 660 with an air velocity suitablefor rapid cooking and/or crisping of foods in cooking chamber 104. Insome embodiments, air mover 124 may have a rated flow rate capable ofproducing air streams 652 with a velocity of between 2 MPH and 25 MPH(e.g., 5-25, 5-20, 10-20, 10-15 MPH). The lower portion of this range(e.g. 2 MPH to 8 MPH) may be suitable for creating more gentle airstreams 652 (e.g. for delicate foods, such as fish). The upper portionof this range (e.g. 8 MPH to 25 MPH) may be suitable for creating morerapid air streams 652 (e.g. for robust foods, such as pizza, Frenchfries, and chicken wings).

The air outlet openings 660 may be sized so that multiple air streams652 may strike one item of food. This may provide a more evendistribution of hot air streams over a surface of the food item, andmitigate a hot spot that may lead to isolated burning. In someembodiments, air outlet openings 660 may be sized between 0.02 in² and0.5 in² (e.g., 0.02-0.25; 0.05-0.25; 0.05-0.1; 0.0.5-0.75 in²). Eachheating duct 644 may include numerous such air outlet openings 660, suchas between 25 and 500 air outlet opening 660.

Moreover, cooking apparatus 100 may include any number of heating ducts644. For example, cooking apparatus 100 may include between 1 and 25heating ducts 644, which may be collectively positioned above, below,and/or to a side of cooking volume 112. In the illustrated example,cooking apparatus 100 includes 5 heating ducts 644 located above cookingvolume 112.

Still referring to FIG. 87, in some embodiments heating elements 120 areIR heating elements, and at least a portion (or all) of heating ducts644 may be permeable to infrared radiation emitted by IR heatingelements 120. For example, at least a portion 668 located between the IRheating element 120 and cooking volume 112 may allow at least 30%, andmore preferably at least 50% (e.g. 50%-100%, 60%-90%, 60%-80%) of IRradiation emitted by IR heating elements 120 towards portion 668 to passthrough into cooking volume 112. IR permeability of heating duct portion668 may be provided by air outlet openings 660, and/or the material ofheating duct portion 668. For example, heating duct portions 668 (or anentirety of heating ducts 644) may be made of stainless steel.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 88-89. Alternatively or in addition toproviding one or more heating elements 120 within air flow path 648,cooking apparatus 100 may include one or more heating elements 120outside of air flow path 648. For example, one or more heating elements120 may be provided above, below, and/or to one or more sides of cookingvolume 112. Such heating elements 120 may produce heat (e.g. IRradiation) less affected (e.g. unaffected) by the rate of air flowthrough air flow path 648, and with an unimpeded line of sight to foodor a cooking container within cooking volume 112. This may make iteasier to regulate the radiative heat emitted by heating elements 120,and may allow heating elements 120 to radiate more heat (e.g. forsearing food) when air mover 124 is activated and moving air within airflow path 648, all else being equal.

In the illustrated examples, heating elements 120 are located betweenadjacent heating ducts 644. As shown, each heating element 120 may beflanked by (e.g. horizontally aligned with) adjacent heating ducts 644.For example, heating elements 120 and heating ducts 644 may be arrangedin an alternating pattern. This may help to evenly distribute both theradiative heating provided by heating elements 120 and the high velocityair heating providing by heating ducts 644. FIG. 88 shows an example inwhich heating elements 120 and heating ducts 644 are located abovecooking volume 112. FIG. 89 shows an example in which heating elements120 and heating ducts 644 are located above and below cooking volume112.

Referring to FIG. 90, in some embodiments a heating element 120 may belocated between an IR reflector 672 and cooking volume 112. The IRreflector 672 may help to reflect, towards cooking volume 112, IRradiation that was emitted by heating elements 120 away from cookingvolume 112. This may improve the heat efficiency of cooking apparatus100 by directing a greater portion of IR radiation, emitted by heatingelements 120, towards food within cooking volume 112, all else beingequal, while reducing heating of the exterior of the appliance.

IR reflector 672 may have any configuration suitable for reflecting IRradiation emitted by heating elements 120. For example, IR reflector 672may be composed of a material having a reflectivity to IR radiation ofat least 50% and preferably at least 70%. In some embodiments, IRreflector 672 may include aluminum or an aluminum coated substrate,which may have a polished surface finish to increase IR reflectivity.

A heating element 120 and an associated IR reflector 672 may be locatedinside or outside of a heating duct 644. In the illustrated embodiment,pairs of heating elements 120 and IR reflectors 672 are located outsideof heating ducts 644. As shown, a heating element 120 and acorresponding IR reflector 672 may be positioned between adjacentheating ducts 644.

Still referring to FIG. 90, each heating element 120 is illustrated asbeing uncovered. This provides each heating element 120 with line ofsight into cooking volume 112, whereby IR radiation from each heatingelement 120 directed towards cooking volume 112 is unimpeded. FIG. 91-92show examples in which a cover panel 676 is positioned between heatingelements 120 and cooking volume 112. As compared with the uncoveredheating elements 120 of FIG. 90, cover panel 676 may help to shieldheating elements 120 from food spatter that may burn and smoke onheating elements 120. Cover panel 676 may be easily cleaned.

Cover panel 676 may be permeable to IR radiation emitted by IR heatingelement 120. For example, cover panel 676 may be free of openings as inFIG. 91 and made of IR permeable material, or may include openings 680as in FIG. 92 and be made of any material.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 93-94. In some embodiments, at least aportion 668 of one or many heating ducts 644 may be part of a cookingchamber panel 108. For example, a substantially planar cooking chamberpanel 108 (e.g. top panel 108 ₁ and/or bottom panel 108 ₂) may coverinside ends of heating ducts 644 and including portions 668 that haveair outlet openings 660. This design may make it easier to clean cookingchamber 104 including portion 668 of heating ducts 644 that may beexposed to spatter from food.

Cooking chamber panel 108 may allow much or all of IR radiation emittedby IR heating elements 120 to enter cooking volume 112. FIGS. 93-94 showan example in which cooking chamber panels 108 have large openings 684,which align with heating elements 120, such that heating elements 120effectively remain uncovered by cooking chamber panels 108. This mayhelp to increase the proportion of IR radiation, emitted by heatingelements 120, that enters cooking volume 112 and contributes to cookingfood. Accordingly, this may improve the energy efficiency of cookingapparatus 100. In some embodiments, heating elements 120 may be overlaidby a cover panel 676. As shown, chamber panel openings 684 may avoidintroducing a second layer of impedance to the passage of IR radiationfrom IR heating elements 120 into cooking volume 112.

FIGS. 95-96 show another example in which cooking chamber panels 108include heating duct portions 668 having air outlet openings 660. Inthis example, heating elements 120 are shown positioned in heating ducts644. The material of the cooking chamber panels 108 (e.g. top and bottompanels 108 ₁, 108 ₂) may be permeable to IR radiation on account of thematerial of cooking chamber panels 108 and/or air outlet openings 660.As shown, cooking chamber panels 108 may not include large panelopenings that avoid the panels 108 overlaying heating elements 120.Accordingly, cooking chamber panels 108 have a lower percentage openarea for spatter to bypass the cooking chamber panels 108. For thisreason, cooking chamber panels 108 may make cooking chamber 104 easierto clean and may provide better support for cooking accessories (e.g.wire racks, containers, etc.). In the illustrated embodiment, cookingapparatus 100 includes an optional wire rack 688 that is removablypositionable in cooking chamber 104 to support food and food containersabove bottom panel 108 ₂.

Referring to FIGS. 94, 96, and 97, one or more cooking chamber panels108 may be removable from cooking apparatus 100. This may permit thecooking chamber panels 108 to be cleaned (e.g. in a sink with water andsoap). Further, this may provide access behind cooking chamber panels108 to clean any food spatter that may have bypassed the cooking chamberpanel 108 through an opening 660, 680. In some embodiments, a cookingchamber panel 108, which includes a heating duct portion 668 with airoutlet openings 660, may be removed for the duration of a cooking cycleto provide convective air flow using air mover 124 without creating highvelocity air streams. This may permit cooking apparatus 100 toselectively provide high velocity air streams or slow convective airflow depending on the cooking technique a user may choose for the foodbeing cooked.

Referring to FIG. 98, in some embodiments one or more (or all) ofheating ducts 644 has a respective duct portion 668 that is individuallyremovable. This can allow cooking apparatus 100 to produce air streams652 along only a subset of heating ducts 644 that have their ductportion 668 still in place. For example, when cooking chamber 104 isdivided into several cooking zones as described above, heating ducts 644associated with one cooking zone may have duct portions 668 in place toproduce high velocity air streams, while heating ducts 644 associatedwith another cooking zone may have duct portions 668 removed to producelow velocity convective heating.

FIGS. 94 and 96 show an example in which the panels 108 ₁, 108 ₂ thatoverlie heating ducts 644 are removable. FIG. 97 shows an example inwhich all cooking chamber panels 108 are removable. Preferably,removable panels 108 can be removed from cooking chamber 104 andreplaced without the use of tools (e.g. without removing any screws orsimilar fasteners). For example, FIGS. 94 and 96 show cooking chamberpanels 108 ₁, 108 ₂ that are slideably removable and insertable intocooking chamber 104. As used herein and in the claims, an elementdescribed as removable can be removed and replaced without causing anydamage.

Referring to FIGS. 99-100, in some embodiments, cooking chamber 104 mayinclude one or more removable panels 108 that when positioned in cookingchamber 104 cover (e.g. close) air outlet openings 660 and obstruct airstreams from exiting outlet openings 660. In use, a cover panel 108 maybe positioned to obstruct air outlet openings 660 of a subset of heatingducts 644 so that air moving through air flow path 648 (FIG. 86) isdirectly primarily or entirely through the other heating ducts 644 whoseair outlet openings 660 remain unobstructed. Furthermore, the air outletopenings 660 that remain unobstructed may generate higher velocity airstreams as compared to if all air outlet openings 660 were unobstructed.This design allows a user to select which of heating ducts 644 produceshigh velocity air streams. For example, a bottom cover panel 108 ₂ maybe removed from cooking chamber 104, and a top cover panel 108 ₁ may bepositioned in cooking chamber 104 so that high velocity air streams areproduced only from heating ducts 644 located below cooking volume 112(e.g. to crisp a bottom crust of a pizza). The reverse situation may beapplied to produce high velocity air streams only from heating ducts 644located above cooking volume 112 (e.g. where a cooking container allowsaccess to the food being cooked only from above).

Reference is now made to FIGS. 101-102. In some embodiments, a heatingelement 120 may be located inwardly (i.e. relative to cooking volume112) of adjacent heating ducts 644. This may allow heating elements 120to radiate heat with greater intensity upon a region of food below. Insome cases, this may allow greater air flow around heating elements 120,whereby heating elements 120 may provide greater contributions to theair temperature within cooking chamber 104. FIG. 101 shows an example inwhich an IR reflector 672 is provided behind each heating element 120 toreflect stray IR radiation towards cooking volume 112. FIG. 102 shows anexample in which heating elements 120 are located in front of cookingchamber panels 108.

Returning to FIGS. 87-88, cooking chamber 104 may be divided into aplurality of cooking zones 180 having individually controllable cookingconditions, as described in detail above. For example, each cooking zone180 may include one or more respective cooking devices, such as heatingelements 120, heating ducts 644, and steam generators 136. As shown inFIG. 103, a cooking zone 180 may include a steam generator 136positioned within cooking chamber 104, and that receives water from awater reservoir 256. Cooking zones 180 may be further isolated bypositioning a cooking container, such as cooking receptacles 140 (FIG.2) and/or cooking vessels 160 (FIG. 2) within cooking chamber 104 asdescribed in detail above.

Common Motor Drive

Reference is now made to FIG. 46. In some embodiments, two or more ofthe same or different motor driven devices within cooking apparatus 100are driven by a common motor 468. An advantage of this design is that itcan reduce the number of motors used to operate cooking apparatus 100,which may thereby reduce the cost, weight, and size of cooking apparatus100, all else being equal.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature of usinga common motor drive described herein may be used with any of thefeatures of multiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and thecooking vessel, subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, steamgeneration, dynamic energy utilization, door transparency, removablehandle, retractable door, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution,insulation and air cooling, heating ducts, reorientation and expansion,vertical cooking, toaster, heat storage members, and other featuresdescribed herein.

The illustrated embodiment shows examples of steam generator pumps 268,air mover impellers 132, and cooling fan 456 as motor driven devices. Asshown, any two or more (or all as shown) of these devices can be drivenby a common motor 468. Common motor 468 may be connected to motor-drivendevices 268, 132, and 456 in any manner suitable for motor 468 to drivetheir operation. In the illustrated example, each of devices 268, 132,and 456 is connected to common motor 468 by a transmission member 472.Each transmission member 472 may include one or more (or all) of gears,belts, chain, pulleys, and rods, which may cooperate to transmit therotation of common motor 468 to the respective device 268, 132, or 456.Further, each transmission member 472 may have the same or differenttransmission ratio, which is the ratio of the output speed of commonmotor 468 to the rotation speed of the device 268, 132, or 456 when thatdevice is connected to common motor 468 by the transmission member 472.The ratio may be less than 1, in which case the device is driven at aspeed less than the motor output speed; equal to 1, in which case thespeeds are the same; or greater than 1, in which case the device isdriven at a speed greater than the motor output speed.

Smoke/Odor Control

Reference is now made to FIGS. 47A-47B. In some embodiments, cookingapparatus 100 may include a gas cleaner 476. Gas cleaner 476 may actupon gases circulating within or discharging from cooking apparatus 100to remove smoke and/or odor particles. An advantage of this design isthat it can reduce the quantum of undesirable smoke and/or odorsemanating from cooking apparatus 100, which may be used on a countertopwithout range hood to capture exhaust gases. FIG. 47A shows an exampleof gas cleaner 476 positioned within cooking chamber 104, and FIG. 47Bshows an example of gas cleaner 476 positioned outside of cookingchamber 104 (e.g. within an exhaust conduit).

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature of smokeand/or odor control described herein may be used with any of thefeatures of multiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and thecooking vessel, subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, steamgeneration, dynamic energy utilization, door transparency, removablehandle, retractable door, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution,insulation and air cooling, heating ducts, common motor drive,reorientation and expansion, vertical cooking, toaster, heat storagemembers, and other features described herein.

Gas cleaner 476 can be any device suitable for removing smoke and/orodor particles from gases circulating within or discharging from cookingapparatus 100. In some embodiments, gas cleaner 476 may include a wetscrubber, an ozone deodorizer, an electrostatic precipitator, orcombinations thereof. FIG. 48 shows an example of a gas cleaner 476 thatincludes a wet scrubber. As shown, gas cleaner 476 may include a liquid(e.g. water) reservoir 480, a spray nozzle 484, and a liquid flow path488 from the charged liquid reservoir 480 to the spray nozzle 484. Apump 490 may be positioned in the liquid flow path 488 to force liquidfrom the reservoir 480 to spray from the spray nozzle 484. Spray nozzle484 may spray a charged liquid (e.g. water) mist over dirty/odorous gas492, so that the charged liquid droplets attach to smoke and/or odorparticles 496 in the gas 492, and collect on or in a collector 504, andclean/fresh gas 507 free of the collected particles 496 exits gascleaner 476.

The liquid mist from spray nozzle 484 may be charged in any manner. Inthe illustrated example, a charged needle 506 is positioned in the flowpath of the liquid mist to impart a charge upon the liquid mist, therebyproducing electrostatically charged mist.

Collector 504 may be any device that can collect the charged mist withparticles 496 attached. For example, collector 504 may include one ormore plates or wires that are oppositely charged compared to the liquidmist.

FIG. 49 shows an example of a gas cleaner 476 including an ozonedeodorizer. As shown, gas cleaner 476 may include an ozone generator508, and an ozone destroyer 512. In use, ozone generator 508 may emitozone particles that mix with the dirty/odorous gas 492 so that theozone molecules 514 attach to the particles 496, then the ozonemolecules 514 carrying the particles 496 are destroyed by interactionwith the ozone destroyer 512 (depositing the particles 496 on ozonedestroyer 512), and clean/fresh gas 507 free of the collected particles496 exits gas cleaner 476.

Ozone destroyer 512 can be any device that can destroy ozone molecules,such as by converting the ozone molecules to other forms (e.g. to 02oxygen). In some embodiments, ozone destroyer 512 includes a catalyticozone destroyer, a thermal ozone destroyer, or combinations thereof.

FIG. 50 shows an example of a gas cleaner 476 including an electrostaticprecipitator. As shown, gas cleaner 476 may include a charged needle 506upstream from a collector 504. Charged needle 506 may have a largecharge (e.g. negative 5,000 to negative 10,000 volts, or positive 5,000to positive 10,000 volts), and may be positioned in a gas flow path 516.Dirty/odorous gas 492, or at least the particles 496 therein, is chargedas it passes over charged needle 506. The charged gas 492 depositsparticles 496 as it passes over, between, or through collector 504. Aclean/fresh gas 507 exits from gas cleaner 476, free of the collectedparticles 496.

Collector 504 may be any device that can collect particles 496 from thecharged gas 492 as gas 492 passes over, between, or through collector504. Collector 504 has an electrostatic potential difference from theparticles 496 such that it attracts particles 496 to separate from gas492. For example, collector 504 may be an oppositely charged (comparedto gas 492) or grounded sponge (wet or dry), metal plate(s), metal mesh,paper or plastic covered conductors, conductive paper or plastic, wool,stream of atomized liquid (e.g. water), or liquid pool.

Reorientation and Expansion

Reference is now made to FIGS. 51-52. In some embodiments, cookingapparatus 100 may be rotatable between a tall orientation (FIG. 51) anda wide orientation (FIG. 52). In the tall orientation (FIG. 51), cookingapparatus 100 may have one or more cooking zones 180 stacked verticallyand occupy a relatively small footprint. In the wide orientation (FIG.52), cooking apparatus 100 may have one or more cooking zones 180horizontally side-by-side and occupy a relatively larger footprint. Anadvantage of this design is that it can allow cooking apparatus 100 tooccupy less counter space in the tall orientation (FIG. 51) when cookingone or several foods 220 having relatively smaller horizontal widths,and allow cooking apparatus 100 to selectively transition to the wideorientation (FIG. 52) to accommodate foods 220 (e.g. pizza) having arelatively larger horizontal width. In such a case, heating elements maybe positioned for use when the appliance is vertically oriented as inFIG. 51 or horizontally oriented as in FIG. 52, or they may berepositionable.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature ofreorientation and expansion described herein may be used with any of thefeatures of multiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and thecooking vessel, subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, steamgeneration, dynamic energy utilization, door transparency, removablehandle, retractable door, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution,insulation and air cooling, heating ducts, common motor drive, smokeand/or odor control, vertical cooking, toaster, heat storage members,and other features described herein.

Turning to FIGS. 53-56, in some embodiments, cooking apparatus 100 maybe horizontally expandable. As shown, cooking apparatus 100 may bemovable between a compact configuration (FIGS. 53 and 55), and anexpanded configuration (FIGS. 54 and 56). An advantage of this design isthat cooking apparatus 100 can have a smaller footprint that occupiesless counter space, until and unless a larger cooking chamber 104 isrequired to cook more or larger food than the compact configuration canaccommodate.

Cooking apparatus 100 may be expandable in any manner that increase thehorizontal dimension of cooking chamber 104. FIGS. 53-54 show an examplein which cooking chamber sidewalls 108 include expandable (e.g.accordion) portions 520 that move between a compact configuration (FIG.53) and an expanded configuration (FIG. 54). FIGS. 55-56 show an examplein which cooking chamber 104 includes sidewalls 108 that can nest in thecompact configuration (FIG. 55), and move farther part in the expandedconfiguration (FIG. 56).

Vertical Cooking

Reference is now made to FIG. 57. In some embodiments, cooking apparatus100 may include a cooking chamber 104 with vertically oriented heatingelement(s) 120 extending along at least one vertical sidewall 108 of thecooking chamber 104. As shown, cooking chamber 104 may have a height 524that is greater than (e.g. at least 1.5 times, or at least 2 times) awidth 528 of the cooking chamber 104. An advantage of this design isthat it can allow for cooking tall food items and can deliver relativelyeven heating across the height of the cooking chamber 104.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature ofvertical cooking described herein may be used with any of the featuresof multiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and the cookingvessel, subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, steam generation,dynamic energy utilization, door transparency, removable handle,retractable door, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution,insulation and air cooling, heating ducts, common motor drive, smokeand/or odor control, reorientation and expansion, toaster, heat storagemembers, and other features described herein.

Still referring to FIG. 57, in some embodiments the cooking apparatus100 may include a steam generator 136 positioned inside or outside ofcooking chamber 104, and configured to humidify the air inside cookingchamber 104.

In some embodiments, cooking apparatus 100 may include a rotating spit532 for rotisserie cooking. As shown, a drip tray 536 may be positionedbelow spit 532 to catch food drippings.

Turning to FIG. 58, the vertically oriented cooking chamber 104 may bepermanently or selectively divided into two or more vertically stackedcooking zones 180. As shown, one or more of the cooking zones 180 mayinclude a drip tray 536. The stacked cooking zones 180 may be separatedby an IR shield 224. IR shield 224 may be removably insertable intocooking chamber 104 so that cooking chamber 104 can be selectivelyconfigured into one or many cooking zones 180. IR shield 224 mayoptionally be IR reflective to reflect IR radiation that strikes the IRshield 224 back into the cooking zones 180.

As shown in FIGS. 59-60, in addition to one or more vertical heatingelements 120, cooking apparatus 100 may include a heating element 120overlying one or more (or all) vertically stacked cooking zones 180. Theoverlying heating element(s) 120 may radiate heat from an additionaldirection onto food within the cooking zone(s) 180 for more evencooking. FIGS. 59-60 also illustrate that cooking zones 180 may be usedwith or without cooking receptacles 140. In FIG. 60, an IR shield orother divider is not positioned between cooking zones 180. Instead,cooking receptacles 140 are relied upon to isolate the cooking zones180.

As shown in FIGS. 57-58, cooking apparatus 100 may include one or moreair movers 124 to provide forced convection to one or more associatedcooking zones 180. FIGS. 57 and 59 illustrate that one or more steamgenerators 136 may be provided to generate humidity in one or moreassociated cooking zones 180. FIG. 60 illustrates an example in whichsteam generator 136 is an evaporative humidifier including an absorbentmaterial (e.g. wick) that is provided on or defines a vertical sidewall108 of the cooking chamber 104.

Turning to FIG. 61, in some embodiments, cooking apparatus 100 may berotated between a tall orientation and a wide orientation. As shown, inthe tall orientation, heating element(s) 120 may be vertically orientedalong vertical cooking chamber sidewall(s) 108. The tall orientation maybe preferable for cooking tall foods, such as to rotisserie cook avertically suspended portion of meat. In the horizontal orientation,heating element(s) 120 may be horizontally oriented (e.g. above andbelow cooking zone 180 as shown). This orientation may be preferable forcooking wide foods, such as a pizza.

Toaster

Reference is now made to FIG. 62, which shows a cooking apparatus 100configured as a top-loading toaster. As shown, cooking apparatus 100 mayinclude two or more thermally isolated cooking zones 180. An opening 538aligned with each cooking zone 180 may be provided in cooking chamberupper wall 108 ₁ for inserting and removing food from cooking zones 180.One or more or all of cooking zones 180 may have an associated cookingchamber door 116 to selectively close the cooking zone 180 for bettercontrol over the cooking conditions in the cooking zone 180.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature of atoaster described herein may be used with any of the features ofmultiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and the cooking vessel,subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, steam generation, dynamicenergy utilization, door transparency, removable handle, retractabledoor, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution, insulation and aircooling, heating ducts, common motor drive, smoke and/or odor control,reorientation and expansion, heat storage members, and other featuresdescribed herein.

Each cooking zone 180 may have at least one associated heating element120 (e.g. IR heating element), which may extend along a height of thecooking zone 180 as shown. In some embodiments, one or more (or all)cooking zones 180 may have an associated steam generator 136 to humidifythe air in the cooking zone 180. Cooking zone 180 ₁ is shown having noassociated steam generator, cooking zone 180 ₂ is shown having anassociated steam generator 136 ₂ positioned outside the cooking zone 180₂, and cooking zone 180 ₃ is shown having a steam generator 136 ₃ thatis provided on or defines a wall of the cooking zone 180 ₃.

Heat Storage Member

Reference is now made to FIG. 63, which shows a fluid heater 540 (alsoreferred to as a heat storage member or energy storage member) inaccordance with an embodiment. As shown, fluid heater 540 may include anenergy storage member 544 (e.g. large block of metal, such as aluminum,also referred to as a ‘heat sink’), a fluid inlet 548, a fluid outlet552, and a flow path 556 that extends from the fluid inlet 548 across orthrough the energy storage member 544 to the fluid outlet 552. Fluid,such as water or air, may be quickly heated by drawing heat from energystorage member 544 as the fluid flows along the flow path 556 from thefluid inlet 548 to the fluid outlet 552. An advantage of this design isthat it can provide nearly instant hot fluid (e.g. hot water or hotair). In the case of liquid, such as water, the hot fluid may bedispensed, e.g. into a cup, or used to supply another device, such as akettle or pod coffee maker for example.

The features in this section may be used by themselves in any cookingapparatus or in any combination or sub-combination with any otherfeature or features described herein. For example, the feature of a heatstorage member described herein may be used with any of the features ofmultiple cooking zones, the cooking receptacle and the cooking vessel,subdividable cooking zones, forced convection, steam generation, dynamicenergy utilization, door transparency, removable handle, retractabledoor, self-cleaning, cooking additive distribution, insulation and aircooling, heating ducts, common motor drive, smoke and/or odor control,reorientation and expansion, toaster, and other features describedherein.

Still referring to FIG. 63, fluid heater 540 may include a heatingelement 560 (e.g. resistance heater) that draws power from an electricalcord 568 with a mains power connector for example (e.g., it may beremovably plugged into a household electrical outlet). Heating element560 may be thermally connected (e.g. in contact with or embedded within)energy storage member 544 for heating energy storage member 544. Energystorage member 544 may be of a material and size that can quickly storelarge amounts of energy from heating element 560, and quickly releasethat heat to fluid flowing along flow path 556 (e.g., a metal block suchas aluminum). As shown, energy storage member 544 may be partially orcomplete surrounded in insulation 564 to mitigate the loss of heat tothe environment. Insulation 564 may include physical insulation, vacuuminsulation, or both. Preferably, insulation 564 has an insulation ratingof at least R-5.

Energy storage member 544 may define any flow path 556 between fluidinlet 548 and fluid outlet 552 that is suitable for efficientlydelivering heat to fluid. FIG. 63 shows an example of a flow path 556that is tortuous to provide a greater residency time and surface areafor the fluid to receive heat from heating element 560. FIG. 64 shows aless tortuous C-shaped flow path 556. FIG. 65 shows an example of anenergy storage member 544 including a plurality of fins 572 across whichthe flow path 556 extends. Fins 572 increase the surface area of contactbetween energy storage member 544 and fluid in the flow path 556 for amore rapid and efficient exchange of heat. Baffles may be provided inthe flow path. It will be appreciated that the energy storage member 554may be made of a single piece of substrate (metal) or several piecessecured together to provide the flow path 556.

Reference is now made to FIG. 104, which shows heat storage member 540connected to an appliance 696. Appliance 696 may be an electric kettle,a coffee maker, or any embodiment of cooking apparatus 100 describedherein. As shown, heat storage member 540 includes a thermally insulatedheat sink 544, a heating member 560 in thermal communication with heatsink 544, and a fluid flow path 556. Fluid flow path 556 is shownincluding an inlet end 548 connected, preferably removably connectable,in fluid communication with appliance fluid outlet 704, and an outletend 552 connected, preferably removably connectable, in fluidcommunication with appliance fluid inlet 708.

In use, heat sink 544 may be pre-heated prior to appliance 696initiating a hot fluid operation (e.g. brewing or cooking cycle), andthen an appliance fluid mover 712 (e.g. pump for liquids, or fan forair) may be activated to circulate fluid (e.g. water or air) fromappliance 696 through heat storage member 540 where the fluid is heatedby receiving heat from heat sink 544, and then returned as hot fluidback to appliance 696. The hot fluid may be further heated by anappliance heating member 716 as part of the hot fluid operation. It willbe appreciated that heat sink 544 may be pre-heated prior to orsubsequent to heat sink being fluidic ally connected to an appliance.

An advantage of this design is that it can allow appliance 696 to addheat to the circulating fluid at a higher rate (i.e. wattage) thancapable by appliance 696 alone. During the hot fluid operation, thecirculating fluid may be concurrently heated by appliance heating member716 and heat stored in heat storage member 540. This allows heat storagemember 540 to supplement the heat supplied by heating member 716. Insome cases, heat storage member 540 may be turned off during the hotfluid operation so that the supplemental heat is provided withoutplacing additional burden on the power circuit to which appliance 696 isconnected (i.e. avoids blowing a fuse).

In some embodiments, heat storage member 540 may be a portable heatstorage member 540 that is removably connectable to appliance 696. Thiscan allow heat storage member 540 to be connected to an appliance 696only when required for supplemental heating. In some embodiments, heatstorage member 540 may be selectively connected to any one of numerousdifferent appliances 696. This allows a single heat storage member 540to be selectively connected to one of the numerous different domesticappliances 696 (e.g. electric kettle, coffee maker, or cookingapparatus) to provide supplemental fluid heating for a hot fluidoperation.

Alternately, the heat sink may be part of an appliance (it may beprovided as a unitary appliance). In such a case, the heat sink may beheated by flowing a heated fluid therethrough. Accordingly, the heatstorage member may not have a heating element.

Referring to FIGS. 104-105, heat storage member 540 may be removablyconnected to appliance 696 in any manner. As shown, appliance 696 mayinclude inlet and outlet connectors 720 ₁, 720 ₂, and heat storagemember 540 may include inlet and outlet connectors 724 ₁, 724 ₂. Inletand outlet connectors 720 ₁, 720 ₂ may be connected to inlet and outletconnectors 724 ₁, 724 ₂ as shown in FIG. 104 to fluidly connect heatstorage member 540 to domestic appliance 696. Connectors 720, 724 may bedisconnected to fluidly disconnect heat storage member 540 from domesticappliance 696. When disconnected, appliance connectors 720 may be leftdisconnected pending a reconnection to heat storage member connectors724, may be closed (e.g. by end-caps), or may be connect to each otherto allow appliance fluid mover 712 to recirculate fluid across applianceheating member 716 when disconnected from heat storage member 540 asshown in FIG. 105.

In some embodiments, appliance 696 does not have a heating member 716.For example, heat storage member 540 may be the primary or sole sourceof fluid heating for appliance 696, and appliance 696 may require aconnection to heat storage member 540 to execute a hot fluid operation.An advantage of this design is that it may allow a single heat storagemember 540 to provide fluid heating for two or more domestic appliances696. This may make those domestic appliances 696 more compact and lessexpensive.

Referring to FIG. 104, optionally heat storage member 540 may include atemperature sensor 728 that is thermally coupled to heat sink 544. Insome embodiments, heating element 560 may be activated or deactivatedbased on temperature readings from temperature sensor 728. For example,heating element 560 may be activated when temperature sensor 728 sensesthat heat sink 544 has a temperature below a predetermined threshold.The predetermined threshold may correspond with a temperature to whichheat sink 544 is preheated before a hot fluid operation. For hot fluidoperations involving liquid, such as water, the predeterminedtemperature may be less than 200° C., such as between 75° C. and 200° C.For hot fluid operations involving gas, such as air, the predeterminedtemperature may be less than 500° C., such as between 200° C. and 500°C.

Reference is now made to FIG. 106, which shows an example in which heatstorage member 540 is connected to a domestic appliance, which may beany embodiment of cooking apparatus 100 described herein. As shown,airflow path 556 may include an outlet end 552 in fluid communicationwith cooking chamber 104, and an inlet end 548 in fluid communicationwith cooking chamber 104. Air mover 124 may draw air from cookingchamber 104 into inlet end 548 of airflow path 556, and the air may exitoutlet end 552 back into cooking chamber 104.

Heat storage member 540 may be pre-heated prior to initiating a cookingcycle within cooking chamber 104. In some embodiments, pre-heating heatstorage member 540 may include activating heating element 560 for apre-determined duration, or until temperature sensor 728 (FIG. 104)senses that a temperature of heat sink 544 exceeds a pre-determinedtemperature. Alternatively or in addition, pre-heating heat storagemember 540 may include activating heating element 120 to generate hotair that air mover 124 draws into heat storage member 540. In this case,the hot air may be responsible for, or contribute to, pre-heating heatsink 544 (e.g. for the predetermined duration or to the predeterminedtemperature). An advantage of this design is that it may allow heatstorage member 540 to include a less powerful heating element 560 or noheating element 560 at all. This may reduce the cost of heat storagemember 540.

In use, cooking apparatus 100 may execute a cooking cycle that includesair mover 124 circulating air through heat storage member 540, such thatthe circulating air may be heated by heat storage member 540 alone orconcurrently with one or more heating elements 120. In the latter case,concurrent heating by heat storage member 540 and heating element(s) 120may allow cooking apparatus 100 to produce greater temperature forprolonged duration, which may otherwise have consumed energy at a rate(e.g. watts) exceeding an energy rating of cooking apparatus 100 and/ora domestic power circuit (e.g. fuse) from which cooking apparatus 100draws power.

As described above in connection with FIG. 105, heat storage member 540may be removably connected to cooking apparatus 100.

While the above description provides examples of the embodiments, itwill be appreciated that some features and/or functions of the describedembodiments are susceptible to modification without departing from thespirit and principles of operation of the described embodiments.Accordingly, what has been described above has been intended to beillustrative of the invention and non-limiting and it will be understoodby persons skilled in the art that other variants and modifications maybe made.

CLAUSES Set 1

-   -   1. A cooking apparatus having a front, a rear and transversely        opposed sides, the cooking apparatus comprising:        -   a. a cooking chamber having an openable door provided on the            front of the cooking apparatus and a cooking volume;        -   b. a heating duct provided above the cooking volume, the            heating duct having a plurality of openings located above            the cooking volume, an IR heating element provided in the            heating duct overlying at least some of the openings; and,        -   c. a fan assembly upstream of the IR heating element.    -   2. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein air exits the        openings at a velocity from 10 to 25 MPH.    -   3. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein a portion of the        heating duct positioned between the IR heating element and the        cooking volume is IR permeable.    -   4. The cooking apparatus of clause 3 wherein the portion of the        heating duct is made of stainless steel.    -   5. The cooking apparatus of clause 3 further comprising moveable        members that are moveable between a first position wherein the        moveable members are positioned between the heating duct and the        cooking chamber and a second retracted position, wherein the        moveable members are made of an IR blocking material.    -   6. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein a portion of the        heating duct positioned between the IR heating element and the        cooking volume is an IR absorbent material.    -   7. The cooking apparatus of clause 6 further comprising moveable        members that are moveable between a first position wherein the        moveable members are positioned between the heating duct and the        cooking chamber and a second retracted position.    -   8. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the cooking        apparatus has a plurality of heating ducts and a plurality of IR        heating elements, wherein the ducts extend across the top of the        cooking volume and one of the IR heating elements is provided in        at least some of the heating ducts.    -   9. The cooking apparatus of clause 8 wherein the heating ducts        extend in a forward/rearward direction.    -   10. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 further comprising a first        and a second cooking container removably receivable in the        cooking chamber, each of the cooking containers defining a        cooking volume when installed in the cooking chamber, the        cooking containers subdivide the cooking chamber into different        cooking zones and each cooking zone is provided with at least        one heating duct having an IR heater positioned therein.    -   11. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the velocity of        air passing over the IR heating element is adjustable.    -   12. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 further comprising a        controller operatively connected to the fan assembly wherein the        controller is operable to adjust an amount of IR radiation        outputted by the IR heating element by adjusting a rate of        rotation of the fan assembly.    -   13. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein a portion of the        heating duct having the openings is removable.    -   14. A cooking apparatus having a front, a rear and transversely        opposed sides, the cooking apparatus comprising:        -   a. a cooking chamber having an openable door provided on the            front of the cooking apparatus and a cooking volume;        -   b. a plurality of spaced apart heating ducts provided above            the cooking volume, the heating ducts having a plurality of            openings located above the cooking volume;        -   c. an IR heating element provided between adjacent heating            ducts; and,        -   d. a fan assembly upstream of the IR heating element.    -   15. The cooking apparatus of clause 14 wherein air exits the        openings at a velocity from 10 to 25 MPH.    -   16. The cooking apparatus of clause 14 wherein the cooking        apparatus has a plurality of heating ducts and a plurality of IR        heating elements, wherein the ducts extend across the top of the        cooking volume and one of the IR heating elements is provided in        at least exterior of the heating ducts.    -   17. The cooking apparatus of clause 16 wherein the heating ducts        extend in a forward/rearward direction.    -   18. The cooking apparatus of clause 14 further comprising a        first and a second cooking container removably receivable in the        cooking chamber, each of the cooking containers defining a        cooking volume when installed in the cooking chamber, the        cooking containers subdivide the cooking chamber into different        cooking zones and each cooking zone is provided with at least        one heating duct having an IR heater positioned therein.    -   19. The cooking apparatus of clause 14 wherein the velocity of        air passing over the IR heating element is adjustable.    -   20. The cooking apparatus of clause 14 further comprising a        controller operatively connected to the fan assembly wherein the        controller is operable to adjust an amount of IR radiation        outputted by the IR heating element by adjusting a rate of        rotation of the fan assembly.    -   21. The cooking apparatus of clause 14 wherein a portion of the        heating duct having the openings is removable.

Set 2

-   -   1. A cooking apparatus comprising:        -   a. a cooking chamber having an openable door provided on the            front of the cooking apparatus and a cooking volume;        -   b. an upper IR heating element;        -   c. a fan assembly upstream of the IR heating element whereby            the fan assembly causes air to pass over the IR element;            and,        -   d. a controller operable to adjust the energy provided to            the fan assembly wherein the fan assembly is operable at a            first power level for a first portion of a cooking cycle and            the fan assembly is operable at a second power level for a            second subsequent portion of the cooking cycle wherein the            second power level is higher than the first power level,        -   whereby operation of the fan assembly at the second power            level causes an increase in airflow over the IR heating            element and a reduction in IR radiation emitted by the IR            heating element.    -   2. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the first portion        of the cooking cycle has a duration for browning food in the        cooking volume.    -   3. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the cooking        apparatus operates at 75% or more of a rated power draw of the        cooking apparatus for 70% or more of the cooking cycle.    -   4. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the cooking        apparatus operates at 75% or more of a rated power draw of the        cooking apparatus for 80% or more of the cooking cycle.    -   5. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the cooking        apparatus further comprises a lower cooking element and the        controller is adjustable to vary the energy provided to the        upper IR element and the lower cooking element.    -   6. The cooking apparatus of clause 5 wherein the cooking        apparatus further comprises a steamer and the controller is        adjustable to vary the power provided to the steamer.    -   7. The cooking apparatus of clause 6 wherein the controller is        operable to produce a pre-determined cooking temperature in the        cooking volume while the cooking apparatus operates at 75% or        more of a rated power draw of the cooking apparatus for 70% or        more of the cooking cycle.    -   8. The cooking apparatus of clause 6 wherein the controller is        operable to produce a pre-determined cooking temperature in the        cooking volume and a pre-determined humidity level in the        cooking volume while the cooking apparatus operates at 75% or        more of a rated power draw of the cooking apparatus for 70% or        more of the cooking cycle.    -   9. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the cooking        apparatus further comprises a steamer and the controller is        adjustable to vary the power provided to the steamer.    -   10. The cooking apparatus of clause 9 wherein the controller is        operable to adjust the temperature in the cooking volume while        the cooking apparatus operates at 75% or more of a rated power        draw of the cooking apparatus for 70% or more of the cooking        cycle.    -   11. The cooking apparatus of clause 9 wherein the controller is        operable to adjust a temperature in the cooking volume and a        humidity level in the cooking volume while the cooking apparatus        operates at 75% or more of a rated power draw of the cooking        apparatus for 70% or more of the cooking cycle.    -   12. A cooking apparatus comprising:        -   a. a cooking chamber having an openable door provided on the            front of the cooking apparatus and a cooking volume;        -   b. an IR heating element;        -   c. a steamer;        -   d. a forced convection fan assembly in flow communication            with the cooking volume; and,        -   e. a controller operably connected to the IR cooking element            and the steamer,        -   wherein the controller has a pre-set cooking setting that            represents a cooking regime and, when the pre-set cooking            setting is in operation, the controller is operable adjust            the distribution of energy to the IR cooking element and the            steamer while the cooking apparatus operates at 75% or more            of a rated power draw of the cooking apparatus for 70% or            more of the pre-set cooking setting.    -   13. The cooking apparatus of clause 12 wherein the cooking        apparatus operates at 75% or more of a rated power draw of the        cooking apparatus for 80% or more of the pre-set cooking        setting.    -   14. A cooking apparatus comprising:        -   a. a cooking chamber having an openable door provided on the            front of the cooking apparatus and a cooking volume;        -   b. an upper IR heating element;        -   c. a lower heating element        -   d. a steamer;        -   e. a forced convection fan assembly in flow communication            with the cooking volume; and,        -   f. a controller operably connected to the IR cooking element            and the lower heating element,        -   wherein the controller has a pre-set cooking setting that            represents a cooking regime and, when the pre-set cooking            setting is in operation, the controller is operable adjust            the distribution of energy to the IR cooking element and the            lower cooking element while the cooking apparatus operates            at 75% or more of a rated power draw of the cooking            apparatus for 70% or more of the pre-set cooking setting.    -   15. The cooking apparatus of clause 14 wherein the cooking        apparatus operates at 75% or more of a rated power draw of the        cooking apparatus for 80% or more of the pre-set cooking        setting.    -   16. The cooking apparatus of clause 14 further comprising a        steamer, the controller is also operably connected to the        steamer and the controller is operable adjust the distribution        of energy to the IR cooking element, the lower cooking element        and the steamer while the cooking apparatus operates at 75% or        more of a rated power draw of the cooking apparatus for 70% or        more of the pre-set cooking setting.    -   17. The cooking apparatus of clause 17 wherein the cooking        apparatus operates at 75% or more of a rated power draw of the        cooking apparatus for 80% or more of the pre-set cooking        setting.    -   18. The cooking apparatus of clause 17 wherein the cooking        apparatus operates at 85% or more of a rated power draw of the        cooking apparatus for 85% or more of the pre-set cooking        setting.

Set 3

-   -   1. A cooking apparatus having a front, a rear and transversely        opposed sides, the cooking apparatus comprising:        -   a. a cooking chamber having an openable door and a cooking            chamber depth extending from a front end of the cooking            chamber to a rear end of the cooking chamber; and,        -   b. a first cooking container removably receivable in the            cooking chamber, the first cooking container defining a            cooking volume, the first cooking containers having a            cooking container depth extending from a front end of the            cooking container to a rear end of the cooking container,            wherein the openable door has a transparent panel.    -   2. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the first cooking        container has a removable handle.    -   3. The cooking apparatus of clause 2 wherein a depth of the        handle and the cooking container depth is greater than the        cooking chamber depth, whereby the handle is removed from the        first cooking container prior to the openable door being closed        when the cooking container is in the cooking volume.    -   4. The cooking apparatus of clause 3 further comprising a second        cooking container, when installed in the cooking chamber, the        first and second cooking containers subdivide the cooking        chamber into different cooking zones that are in fluid flow        communication with each other.    -   5. The cooking apparatus of clause 4 wherein, when the first and        second cooking containers are removed from the cooking chamber,        the cooking chamber defines a single contiguous volume.    -   6. The cooking apparatus of clause 4 wherein each cooking        container is individually removable from the cooking chamber.    -   7. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein at least a portion        of the front end of the first cooking container is see-through.    -   8. The cooking apparatus of clause 8 wherein the portion of the        front end of the first cooking container is made of a        transparent material or a wire mesh.    -   9. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the openable door        is retractable to a retracted position when opened.    -   10. The cooking apparatus of clause 9 wherein, when the openable        door is in the retracted position and the first and second        cooking containers are in the cooking volume, the openable door        is positioned below the first and second cooking containers.    -   11. The cooking apparatus of clause 10 wherein, when the        openable door is pivotally and slideably mounted whereby the        openable door first pivots to an open position and then slides        inwardly to the retracted position.    -   12. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the transparent        panel is made of glass.        -   13. A cooking apparatus comprising a cooking chamber having            an openable door wherein the openable door is retractable to            a retracted position when opened.    -   14. The cooking apparatus of clause 13 wherein, when the        openable door is in the retracted position and a cooking        container is in the cooking chamber, the openable door is        positioned below the cooking container.    -   15. The cooking apparatus of clause 14 wherein, when the        openable door is pivotally and slideably mounted whereby the        openable door first pivots to an open position and then slides        inwardly to the retracted position.    -   16. The cooking apparatus of clause 13 wherein the openable door        has a transparent panel.

Set 4

-   -   1. A cooking apparatus comprising:        -   a. a cooking chamber;        -   b. a first heating member operable to provide heat to the            cooking chamber; and,        -   c. a heat storage member.    -   2. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the heat storage        member is external to the cooking apparatus.    -   3. The cooking apparatus of clause 2 wherein the heat storage        member is removably connectable in thermal communication with        the cooking apparatus.    -   4. The cooking apparatus of clause 3 wherein the heat storage        member comprises a thermally insulated heat sink, the heat sink        having an air flow path therethrough wherein an outlet end of        the air flow path is in air flow communication with the cooking        chamber.    -   5. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the first heating        member is operable to heat the heat storage member prior to        heating the cooking chamber.    -   6. The cooking apparatus of clause 5 wherein the heat storage        member comprises a thermally insulated heat sink, the heat sink        having an air flow path therethrough wherein an inlet end of the        air flow path is in air flow communication with a hot air stream        produced by the first heating member.    -   7. The cooking apparatus of clause 6 wherein an outlet end of        the airflow path is in airflow communication with the cooking        chamber.    -   8. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the heat storage        member comprises a second heating member that is operable to        heat the heat storage member.    -   9. The cooking apparatus of clause 8 wherein the second heating        member is operable to heat the heat storage member prior to the        cooking chamber being heated.    -   10. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the cooking        chamber is concurrently heated by the first heating member and        heat stored in the heat storage member.    -   11. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the heat storage        member comprises a thermally insulated heat sink, the heat sink        having an air flow path therethrough wherein an outlet end of        the air flow path is in air flow communication with the cooking        chamber.    -   12. The cooking apparatus of clause 11 wherein the heat storage        member comprises a second heating member that is operable to        heat the heat sink.    -   13. The cooking apparatus of clause 12 wherein the heat storage        member is removably connectable with the cooking apparatus.    -   14. A portable heat storage member comprising:        -   a. a thermally insulated heat sink;        -   b. a heating member in thermal communication with the heat            sink;        -   c. a fluid flow path extending through the heat sink, the            fluid flow path having an inlet end and an outlet end, the            outlet end is connectable in flow communication with a            domestic appliance; and,        -   d. an electrical cord connectable with a domestic power            outlet.    -   15. The portable heat storage member of clause 14 wherein the        domestic appliance is one of an electric kettle, a coffee maker        and a cooking apparatus.    -   16. The portable heat storage member of clause 14 wherein the        outlet end is removably connectable in flow communication with a        domestic appliance.    -   17. The portable heat storage member of clause 14 wherein the        outlet end is selectively connectable in flow communication with        at least two domestic appliances.    -   18. The portable heat storage member of clause 14 further        comprising a temperature sensor wherein the heating element is        operated to heat the heat sink when the temperature sensor        senses that the heat sink is below a pre-determined temperature.

Set 5

-   -   1. A cooking apparatus having a top, a front, a rear and        transversely opposed sides the cooking apparatus comprising:        -   a. an outer shell;        -   b. an inner shell spaced from and facing at least a portion            of the outer shell;        -   c. an air flow passage provided between the inner shell and            the outer shell, the air flow passage having a cooling air            inlet and an exhaust outlet; and,        -   d. a cooking chamber having an openable door, the cooking            chamber is isolated from air flow communication with the air            flow passage; and,        -   e. a cooling fan assembly in air flow communication with the            airflow passage.    -   2. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the cooling fan        assembly is actuated when the cooking apparatus is actuated.    -   3. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the cooling fan        assembly operates after the end of a cooking cycle for a        predetermined period of time.    -   4. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 further comprising an outer        shell temperature sensor wherein the cooling fan assembly        operates after the end of a cooking cycle until the outer shell        temperature sensor senses a temperature below a predetermined        temperature    -   5. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 further comprising an outer        shell temperature sensor wherein the cooling fan assembly is        actuated when the outer shell temperature sensor senses a        temperature above a predetermined temperature.    -   6. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the outer shell        comprises a top panel and a plurality of side panels and the        inner shell comprises a top panel spaced from and facing the top        panel of the outer shell and a plurality of side panels spaced        from and facing the side panels of the outer shell.    -   7. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 further comprising        insulation overlying at least a portion of at least one of the        inner shell and the outer shell.    -   8. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 further comprising        insulation provided between at least a portion of the inner        shell and the outer shell.    -   9. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the air inlet        passage is provided on one of the transversely opposed sides and        the exhaust outlet is provided on the other transversely opposed        side.    -   10. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the cooling fan        assembly is provided internal of the airflow passage.    -   11. The cooking apparatus of clause 10 wherein the cooling fan        assembly is at the exhaust outlet.    -   12. The cooking apparatus of clause 1 wherein the exhaust outlet        directs cooling air over the openable door.    -   13. The cooking apparatus of clause 12 wherein the openable door        comprises a single layer of glass.    -   14. The cooking apparatus of clause 12 wherein the openable door        comprises two spaced apart layers of glass.    -   15. The cooking apparatus of clause 12 wherein the openable door        comprises two spaced apart layers of glass and the airflow        passage extends between the layers of glass.    -   16. A cooking apparatus having a top, a front, a rear and        transversely opposed sides the cooking apparatus comprising:        -   a. an air flow passage having a cooling air inlet and an            exhaust outlet; and,        -   b. a cooking chamber having an openable door, the cooling            chamber is isolated from air flow communication with the air            flow passage; and,        -   c. a cooling fan assembly in air flow communication with the            air flow passage wherein the exhaust outlet directs cooling            air at the openable door.    -   17. The cooking apparatus of clause 16 wherein the openable door        comprises a single layer of glass.    -   18. The cooking apparatus of clause 16 wherein the openable door        comprises two spaced apart layers of glass.    -   19. The cooking apparatus of clause 16 wherein the openable door        comprises two spaced apart layers of glass and the airflow        passage extends between the layers of glass.    -   20. The cooking apparatus of clause 16 wherein the exhaust        outlet directs cooling over the openable door.

We claim:
 1. A cooking apparatus comprising: a. a cooking chamber havingan openable door; and, b. at least a first and a second cookingcontainer removably receivable in the cooking chamber, each of thecooking containers defining a cooking volume wherein, when each of thecooking containers is positioned in the cooking chamber, cookingconditions in each cooking volume are individually controllable.
 2. Thecooking apparatus of claim 1 wherein, when installed in the cookingchamber, the cooking containers subdivide the cooking chamber intodifferent cooking zones that are in fluid flow communication with eachother.
 3. The cooking apparatus of claim 2 wherein, when the cookingcontainers are removed from the cooking chamber, the cooking chamberdefines a single contiguous volume.
 4. The cooking apparatus of claim 1wherein each cooking container is individually removably from thecooking chamber.
 5. The cooking apparatus of claim 2 wherein eachcooking zone has its own heating element.
 6. The cooking apparatus ofclaim 5 wherein each cooking zone has at least one infrared heatingelement positioned above or below the cooking zone.
 7. The cookingapparatus of claim 2 wherein each cooking zone has at least one infraredheating element positioned above the cooking zone and a common heatingelement is positioned below at least two cooking zones.
 8. The cookingapparatus of claim 7 wherein an IR absorber is provided between thecooking zones and the common heating element.
 9. The cooking apparatusof claim 8 wherein the IR absorber has portions that have differingrates of IR absorption.
 10. The cooking apparatus of claim 8 wherein theIR absorber has an upper surface on which food is positionable forcooking.
 11. The cooking apparatus of claim 1 wherein at least one ofthe cooking volumes is provided with steam.
 12. The cooking apparatus ofclaim 2 wherein at least one of the cooking zones is in fluidcommunication with a source of steam.
 13. The cooking apparatus of claim2 wherein at least one of the cooking zones has a steam generator. 14.The cooking apparatus of claim 1 wherein the first and second cookingcontainers have a different cooking volume.
 15. The cooking apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein the first and second cooking containers have a differentshape.
 16. The cooking apparatus of claim 1 further comprising acontroller wherein the controller is operable to control the cookingconditions in the cooking volume of the first cooking container and thecontroller is also operable to separately control the cooking conditionsin the cooking volume of the second cooking container.
 17. The cookingapparatus of claim 16 wherein the controller is programmable toindividually control the cooking conditions in each of the first andsecond cooking containers.
 18. The cooking apparatus of claim 16 whereinthe controller is operable such that cooking of different food indifferent cooking containers is completed at a common time.
 19. Thecooking apparatus of claim 16 wherein the controller is operable suchthat cooking of different food in different cooking containers iscompleted is a particular sequence.